


Kara and Kin

by AwatereJones



Series: Kara [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alt Verse, F/M, Future, Immortals, M/M, ianto lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2018-12-17 21:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 71
Words: 64,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11860401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwatereJones/pseuds/AwatereJones
Summary: So Ianto survived the COE and fled with a broken heart and a belly full of baby. The last 20 plus years he hid in America working for Warehouse 13 as the world woke up and agencies started to combine. Today Torchwood rules them all as Ianto watches his young daughter take her place as the next generation of Alien Hunter. ALT VERSE don't like don't read. No flamers or trolls





	1. Chapter 1

Nervously adjusting her skirt as the elevator rose, Kara told herself to be cool. Be super cool. It was going to be OK. No big deal. Just another briefing.

Right?

When the doors opened she walked with confidence, her head held high and her heels making little sound on the carpeted floor and she glided towards the meeting table where those in power sat talking quietly.

_Be super cool Kara Girl._

She was almost to the table when the heels...those same heels she had worn for the past two fucking years and were considered faithful hounds, failed her and Kara found herself on her hands and knees in front of the last man she wanted to gain attention from.

"Drop a contact lens soldier?" came an amused question and she knew she was blushing as she looked up at the Silver Fox but she was unable to answer as she meekly held out the top file in the pile she was gathering up.

"Why thank you, but I appear to already have a copy here on my boot" the voice was still full of amusement as he reached down, his shirt growing taut and his trousers along with it, giving her his angled back and arse she had noticed was ample more than once. For a man his age he was shaped like one half that and she tore her gaze away to find his eyes locked onto hers in silent question.

"Sorry sir, I noticed your jacket has a button loose" she blustered, "Me GrandDa was a master tailor ya know, I might mend that for you before you leave?"

He sat back and reached behind himself to pull the Great Coat from the chair and he looked at the buttons, noting the one she had clocked once her eyes had swung from his arse and he grunted, handing it towards her.

She got to her feet and placed the remaining files on the desk and accepted the coat, then to her complete horror she dipped a small curtsy and fled the room. A curtsey.

_What the fuck was that?_

Kara berated herself as the elevator slowly descended, how the fuck could she be any more...oh shit.

The small pinging noise of something metallic hitting the grating made her look down with horror, the brass button winking before it slid between the elevator door and the small venting area that this military base had in all elevators in case of chemical evacuation for air to be pumped into the escape pods the elevators also served as.

"NO!" she was again on her knees, her fingers feeling for the button but it was to no avail. She knew before her knees had landed she was fucking doomed, had known that morning actually when her parking space had been taken by the huge hulking black fucking beast of an SUV that meant she would walk an extra length from the outer carpark in these god awful betraying heels that today was going to suck.

She rose to her feet and wracked her brain, then realised there might be a way out. The doors opened and she ran for the cubicle that was hers and her hands shook as she snatched up the phone and dialled the only number she ever called off base.

"Sweet Pea? Everything OK?"

"Taddy, I have a code red. I repeat a code red. I am in deep shit, tell me you have a world war II Great Coat button. Circa 1940? Gods, please!" she sobbed and she heard that intake of breath her Tad did when trying to remain calm for her.

"Hold on Karaline, I will go check my button tin" he replied calmly, her feeling the chocolate laced vowels sliding over her nerves as his welsh accent took her to that happy place it always did. She listened to the clinking and scraping of buttons being poured into that little tray he kept for such a purpose, so prepared this lovely man, then humming which meant he was close and categorizing brass buttons.

Kara closed her eyes and saw him sitting primly in the chair, his shirt open at the neck and his sleeves rolled. Probably had been doing the morning dishes. Tad didn't believe in dishwashers, his prized English Dalton hand washed. Gods, she had asked why they didn't keep it for best and just buy a cheap arsed set for everyday use and he had looked at her like....

"I have two"

"Oh Taddy, you wonderful thing" she gushed, "Oh I love you so much."

She then started to make a begging noise, not unlike that of a puppy and she heard his soft laughter as he promised to be right there.

One of the beauties of living just outside the base was the driving distance was less than ten minutes. Kara relaxed in her chair as she knew the meeting was tabled for the entire afternoon and Taddy would be here, bring his kit as he also felt hers was inferior thread, fix the button and by the time the mighty Silver Fox demanded his coat back he would once again be gold. Super gold.

It was so important to make that man happy, after all the new taskforce was about to be assembled and her application was in for the tech sergeant vacancy.

Despite the rumours and accusations she really wanted to work for him, those that survived were always placed in seats of power and if it was one thing Kara had promised herself it was that she would not give up, she would make her Tad proud.

And the only way to do that was to work for Captain Jack Harkness.

And survive the hell he would lead her through.

[](https://postimg.org/image/wngkzyxnz/)


	2. mild annoyance level 2

 

Ianto pulled his black Austin Martin convertible into the parking space that was reserved for him at Global Insurance. The official cover for the Unit and Torchwood led agency. Several other Alien Hunters belonged on the books as well, Miracle Day had forced them to reconsider after COE had first woken them up to the real dangers of the universe then the global attack of life. Ironic, Ianto had been terrified as well, keeping his little one close as they waited it out. Unit had been so clingy when they realised who he was, standing there with a toddler n his arms and a gash to his head from the car accident that should have killed her. He had been kept well hidden by them during the event, and since. They all feared a third more final event now.

These days Her Majesty loaned out her Torchwood to the other agencies with Unit more like their ground soldiers. Ianto wondered what Owen and Tosh would have made of this, Jack being sent worldwide with Unit soldiers as his personal troop openly hunting aliens. The hardest part had been staying away from him but Ianto knew that was the only way he and his child could survive really. The Americans were definitely the lesser evil.

Although retired he still did consultancy work now and then, hard to escape such a life he had once lived ya know and it kept the big wigs happy to think he was just a phone call away when something happened.

Big fucking babies.

Ianto exited the vehicle and looked at the small sign marking his spot.

ARCHIVIST

He snorted and walked away without locking the door, no need when he was in one of the most secure facilities in the world. Hadn't been here in months actually. Not since that wee Barokan scare.

The suit was fine wool, perfect for the chilly autumn air and the smokey grey colour with the peppermint pinstripe looked sassy. Too preppy for here but he didn't have time to change and this was the most comfortable when painting, glad he had pulled on just the plain black Burberry instead of the suit jacket as well. The plain white shirt and dark green tie did not look out of place and there was more warmth to the sun than he had realised.

He walked though the large doors and to the reception area to sign in and as he passed his wrist over the scanner placed in the desk a ping told him politely that the button on his coat's cuff had been registered and he turned to walk toward the hidden door that would open once he stood in front of it and let it do a retinal scan.

"Oi, ID please" the woman demanded and Ianto stopped with surprise, turning to look at the woman behind the desk who smiled politely with that 'fuck you' grin most grunts wear before basic slaps them down. For some reason the gap in her teeth irritated him in words he could not express.

"You can't just waltz in here like ya own the place ya know" her similarity to someone he once knew the only thing saving her as he turned to address her calmly.

"Do you see the little pin on my lapel?"

"Yeah?" she nodded, a spring of hair bounding from the bun of dark hair.

"Do you see that it is a small emblem."

"It's an Alien sir. A Grey only it's green."

"Yes" he smiled softly, "It is actually my entry code. The eyes are scannable, like my cuff button. The colour is for the human eye that cannot scan as the system does. It is a warning. Anyone wearing an alien pin is to be handled more discretely. Most will be grey, as these are cartoon Grey Boys. Mine like a handful are a dull green. The real colour of these aliens. It means we are real Alien Hunters. Elite force. You do not challenge us, annoy us or even address us. The last one to piss me off thought he would challenge my entry and I think he is still washing vehicles down in the vehicle pool two years later. I give you a pass as you remind me of someone I knew once. Just remember, see more than one of these moving past your post at speed and take a bathroom break. Go to a secure room and wait a while because it means something big and bad is happening, OK?"

She nodded meekly, both chastened and relived he was being kind. She now remembered the warning not to gain the attention of Elite Force members and she thanked him softly.

"No worries" he smiled "I am First Lieutenant Ianto Jones. I remember from your personnel fine that you are Anwen. Right?"

"You saw my file?"

"I see all files, especially yours" he said softly, turning to head for the door, "Have a good day young lady and remember the golden rule of this place, be forgettable."

The door had closed as she sat there gaping and when her partner came back for the inner office he frowned at her with worry, "Anwen? What happened?"

"I just spoke with a member of the Elite Force" she said softly with awe, "He was Welsh."

"Bullshit" Carl snorted with, "More of us? God, we will take over the world at this rate. I thought I was the only other one mad enough for this place. After your Mama and you of course. Well? Was he nice?"

"A gentleman" she said with a soft smile, "A real life gentleman."

She couldn't wait to tell her parents she had met one of the Elite. If only she could remember his name.

.

.

.

.

Ianto sat and examined the coat feeling something in his gut twist as he recognised it. Raising it to breathe in Jack's smell as he closed his eyes. Gods.

He knew his daughter was watching so he calmly replaced the button, then fixed the small tear near the pocket he knew would be there before he even looked.

He always tore that pocket when he shoved the lolly bag back into it in a hurry, striding out like ...shit.

Ianto's hands had stilled and he looked over at his child.

"Kara? Why do you have the Captain's coat?"

"I sort of fell on my arse and had to think fast" she shrugged, "You know me Tad, klutz of the highest order. I winged it, no one seemed to notice I was faking it."

Ianto looked back at the warm fabric and sighed.

She was just like her father.


	3. watch and sigh

"There you are Sweet Pea" Ianto handed over the pristine coat and she kissed his cheek before checking her reflection in the mirror and then she took off down the hall. Her buddy Anwen had called and told her the Captain was on the move and she hoped to look disinterested yet polite when he turned the corner.

Ianto followed at a distance, keeping well back in stealth mode and he watched Jack step off the elevator and see Kara standing with the coat over her arm as she waited, leaning back against the desk talking to Anwen.

Ianto watched the two women and sighed.

Of course they would be friends, Kara hearing the Welsh vowels and zeroing in on something familiar. Now he watched Jack stalking towards Kara with a keen eye as his daughter also watched covertly from the corner of her eye, Jack taking in the polished shoes with a lower heel than earlier, thank you Taddy for remembering to bring those in your pockets, and her svelte figure. She turned, mid laughter to find the predator almost to her and she rose, her face flushed with delight as she lifted the coat and presented it. Jack's face changed to one of interest as he turned and let her slide it up his arms to rest on his shoulders, her hands a slight pat before escaping like Taddy always did when placing her own jacket on her shoulders. Had done since she could remember.

For a moment Jack remembered another who did such an action and he turned to thank her when he smelt it.

Ianto.

Jack hesitated and looked around then told himself it was just in his head. The Coat was mocking him again as it remembered the one who had truly loved it. The thought made him smile softly.

"Well done there recruit" Jack said as he felt the warm hug of familiarity in the fabric.

"Thank you sir" she said primly, "I live to serve."

"And I am sure you could serve up all sort of..."

"Harassment that is!" she spluttered, her eyes dancing and Jack saw little storms in them.

Gods, he was everywhere today.

Jack's gaze dropped to her lapel where a small thistle broach sat and he smiled, "Welsh Thistle."

"It was me grandmother's" she blushed, "It's for luck."

"I once knew someone who had that as a tie pin" he smiled and she lifted the broach to show him it was indeed a tie pin, his smiled sliding as he looked at her long delicate fingers.

"My Tad used to wear it for luck too" she smiled, unaware of the confusion she had created, "He said it saved him more than once. 'Never go anywhere without a pin Sweet Pea' he always says."

"Clever Tad" Jack swallowed thickly, taking a deep breath as he straightened and took a step back. "He knows where you are then?"

She laughed.

Gods, the same musical notes that seemed to sparkle in the air and he wanted to grip something, sit down or flee. Instead he was grounded, looking at this young lady who was an impossibility, yet there she was right there.

"My Tad used to work here, well all over the place. Used to work for something in Great Britain too. Came here when he had me and still lurks these halls, hidden in the shadows. When I was little I asked if he was a Vampyre, so pale and solemn. Why I am here, I want to follow in his footsteps. I want to protect and serve my planet, sir" she finished, realising she had blurted out too much information and she grinned again hopefully.

"You want on my taskforce do you?" he asked, then canted his head, "Are you Welsh? You don't have an accent."

"My Taddy is Welsh, my other was American. Taddy tells me the only Welsh part to me is my acceptance of rain and my ability to apologise while being the victim. Sir."

Jack grinned, "I like the Welsh. Spent a lot of time there in Wales. Wonderful place, so rich in manners. You have applied to my taskforce, right? What's your name?"

"Karaline, sir. Karaline Jones" she smiled happily, "Like a large percentage of the Welsh population, either a Smith, a Jones or something sounding like a cat hacking up a fur ball. Sorry, my Tad hates me saying things like that. I much prefer Jones to Faversham or something hard to spell. When you must spell your name to everyone all the time. I mean is Jones so hard to know how to spell?"

Jack laughed as she flapped her hands and saw himself in her actions, so childlike yet those eyes seemed so intelligent like she was judging his responses. "What position did you apply for soldier?"

"Archivist or Tech sir" she said with relief, "My Tad was an Archivist but I love tech. I love firearms too, something he tuts over."

"Well. I shall look at your file more closely now" Jack nodded, turning to leave, "Karaline."

"Kara" she called after him "Me friends call me Kara."

Jack spun on his heel at the door and bowed politely, "Fare thee well then Kara."

Going through the doorway, he shoved his hands in the pockets to check the contents were all still there and the caress of stitching made him hesitate. As he walked out into the sunshine the warmth hit the wool and he smelt it again.

Ianto.

Gods how he hated this coat's ability to retain memories like this.

Maybe it missed him too.


	4. I tapped that

"Tad, I don't know what the problem is" Kara sighed as she folded her blouse and placed it in the suitcase, "It's just for a few days. You have that commission to finish anyway, the Flanders Poppies."

"The problem is that man!" Ianto sighed.

"Tad, I don't know what you have against the Captain, he is perfectly professional despite the rumours I have yet to meet anyone he has bedded."

"I highly doubt that Sweet Pea" Ianto sighed again, seeing she had made her mind up as her chin jutted at him in that familiar way.

"It's a training camp to see if we mesh" she was explaining as she turned away and missed his grimace, "No aliens, no emergencies, no cannibals either before we get started on that nightmare of yours. Tad, it's fine. I'm fine. He's fine. We go to a remote location and work as a team to evacuate ourselves. Only what we can carry on our backs. We spend a night out in the cold being bloody survivalists and then get home" she turned to face Ianto "We are the only planet to camp. Did you know that. We must embrace our individuality."

"Did he say that?" Ianto snorted as he felt the sting of the words he remembered from so long ago, in a previous life.

"No, he said we would be monitored and could raise an alarm to get rescued at any given moment" Kara snorted, "This is not the hunger games Taddy. Gods do you not trust me at all? All those camping trips on the Barrens and in the deserts around here so I would know how to survive an apocalypse or something?"

"Cheeky mouth" Ianto growled and she laughed as he grabbed her, pulling her into a hug as he kissed her cheek, "Just promise me one thing a big thing yet something of great importance to me. OK?"

She drew back and placed her hands on his shoulders, seeing he was seriously worried.

"Sweetie, promise me that no matter what you do not fall in love with him. Do not let him into your wee lacy knickers and do not even kiss him. Promise me, professional all the way" he said with a frown she had never seen before, almost threatening, "Promise me. You do not let this man near you in any way what so ever. Promise."

"Taddy I promise" she said softly with an eye roll that was pure Jones, her hands sliding up to cup his face as she was now worried for him, his face flushed with pain or fear or something, "Taddy, if he even pats my bum I will have him for harassment. I swear."

Ianto pulled her close again, knowing she would not be able to keep such a promise if Jack started on her like he could, really could bring out the Adonis routine so he wrestled internally then groaned as he knew there was only one way to ensure her compliance.

"Kara, once upon a time, a long time ago when I was a real person. You know, loving life and still thinking good guys always won and stuff, back before you were born." Ianto said in a deep tone that made her hair stand up on the back of her neck, "Long before I had this grey hair and lone wolf nature. I knew Captain Jack Harness. Intimately, if you would."

Kara's eyes widened as she stared at him.

"I don't know if you would call us lovers, he definitely did not love me. He could not say it even when I needed it, when I ... well. Jack was always more than a one man kinda guy. Man. Woman. Tentacled being. Jack was is and will always be open to anyone and anything...or both. Get it?" Ianto saw her face change to one of distress and knew he had done his duty, he had made sure Jack would not stand a chance, "He is a good man. A great soldier and leader of men but a shit friend. OK? OK? Promise me Sweetie. If he starts being all sexy and shit remember I tapped that"

"Ew, Tad!" she squealed, the atmosphere lightening immediately as she laughed and slapped at him, "You bloody dark horse."

"That's me" he chortled, "Ianto Jones, Dark Horse and Welsh Bastard. Don't mention me either, he might not take it well. We did not part well. It took a long time for me to forgive him, sometimes I think I haven't. I wonder if he forgave himself. Sometimes I don't think he even cared. He goes on. Endures. It's his way."

"You loved him" She whispered with awe, finally seeing something she thought she never would. She saw vulnerability in her Tad.

"Yes" he whispered softly, his eyes filling as he spun from her and stormed from the room leaving her stunned and oddly angry.

For the first time she questioned if she had made the right choice. Her Taddy had never directed her, always supported her and she knew he would never question the path she chose. For the first time she questioned herself.

How badly did she want this?

Was it for her at all? Or to make him proud.

Kara wondered as well, who was this Captain really to have won the heart of someone so withheld that in all her life she had never seen him show affection to anyone other than herself.

And if it were all true...why had he hurt him so?


	5. Lets kick this pig

Kara stood in the smart black fatigues of the unit, looking over at Anwen who was flushed with excitement at gaining a chance as well. At least she would not be alone in the female stakes.

"Me Mam knows him" Anwen whispered, "I think he took me as a favour to her, apparently they worked together once. I don't know. Mam doesn't talk about it much, back then but I do know there was never any hanky-panky. All I know is that it is because of him we moved to America and Mam helped set up this Liaison branch of Torchwood."

"Gwen Cooper" Kara whispered back, "I saw some footage of her in action, could shoot like a bloody goddess."

"Yeah, her sight is not what it used to be" Anwen sighed, "Dad says it is a good thing, she would be shooting the president or something with a sniper scope otherwise."

They both sniggered as they found themselves liking each other even more. This might not be half bad after all. Anwen looked at Kara and saw the dark hair that fell in a natural curl and swept back from her face into a tail, the pert nose and prominent chin that was so expressive. Not often you thought of a woman as handsome, not just pretty but striking.

Kara was striking, like a movie star or something.

Anwen was glad they had hit it off earlier now being a time they might have seen one another as rivals. For some reason she could not explain Anwen knew deep down that if they came to blows Kara would put her down with extreme malice. She had a dangerous undertone that was sexy in a scary kind or way, hidden under a gentle mask of compliance.

But Anwen knew her. They were friends. She knew it was a show, this polite creature with a gentle smile and dipped chin so she looked through her lashes. They had sparred in mock battle and competed on the range. This was a cold hard killing machine; training unlike anything Anwen had known before, even better than her early training at the hands of her Mama and the Sensei. No. Best not be an enemy of Ms Jones.

She would cut a bitch.

The other five hopefuls were men, all eyeballing the two women like they were going to be their fucking servants while they did the real work. Don't you worry little missy I'll kill the fatted calf. Kara thought of her Tad and his ability to read people, those afternoons sat with ice creams 'people watching' in the rain. He had been training her even then and she thanked him for it as she now looked at the men she would endure for the next 48 hours.

Tossers.

Then came the Captain, his usual garb swapped for matching fatigues that made him seem even younger, if not for the silver head of hair she might have thought him younger like her Tad.

"OK men, lets move out" he called and one of the men snorted. The one Kara had singled out as a loose canon already.

"And girls sir" he called, making Jack hesitate and look back. "Let's not forget the girls."

"Kent. Right?"

"Sir" the man snapped to attention and Jack's eyes slid to the young lady bristling to his left.

"Kara? Want to educate the man?"

"We are grunts. We are recruits. We are soldiers. There is only rank or title. All soldiers are men. If you think that it racist go run a wee pink flag up the flagpole and whinge equality. I would rather get on with the job and earn rank. Pansies complain." She snarled, her eyes flaring, "Well soldier? Are you a man? Gods knows I don't want to be any longer than necessary. Get through this test and you might become a private. Seems you are all about privates."

Her eyes flicked down to his crotch and back up in a blatant display of power that had the man balking, "Well? Hop to it man, don't worry about my morals. I have them right here, in my purse with my lippy and my sanitary pads. OK?"

Jack roared with mirth as the poor man took off and he watched Kara adjust her cuffs, "Harsh."

"He needs it, mama's boy" she snorted, "There is a difference between wanting to be one of the team and seeking to divide it. Placing titles before we even start could make us realise we are two fractions. We are not. We are all here for one purpose, as a whole. My Taddy would have been more polite and probably more scathing as well. He is like battery acid. He always says I am more direct and brutal like my other parental was. More of a solider than a diplomat."

"What else does your Tad say" Jack asked softly, hearing faint Welsh undertones in her speech patterns.

"That a soldier trumps a diplomat every time because most diplomats can't save their own arses in a fire fight. Sir"

Jack roared with delight as he motioned for her to lead the way, the others waiting nervously at the helicopter for his order to get onboard.

He liked this wee spitfire.

Reminded him of himself.

If not for Ianto's questioning eyes.


	6. First combat boot to drop

They touched down in a clearing and Jack was first off, turning to watch them disembark as he already judged them. Kent offered a hand to Anwen who looked at him like he had spit in it first and Jack grinned as he saw Kara push him aside and clamber down before turning to help one of the men off that carried the communications stuff.

_Good. She looks to others that need help and knows the weight that young grunt is carrying is also their safety net. Clever this one._

Once they were all on the ground he motioned and they began to walk, no map or compass. He wanted to see if they had memorised the flight path while travelling and knew Kara's keen eyes certainly had as she looked for landmarks that had been visible from the chopper's doors. The only one to have looked out.

 _Good girl_.

Jack realised with a sort that he felt a pride in her already, not even his yet and he was thinking of her as one of his men. Shit. That had been quick.

"Halt, Kent what the fuck are you doing?" her voice brought him back as he watched her hand snake to the back of her neck in such a familiar way, "Dickhead, you are in poison oak. Can you not see the path?"

Kent looked down at the plants at knee height he was pushing though and then back at her with a shrug.

"Well, let's hope your socks are pulled up then" she sighed as she motioned for him to get out, "They go though fabric. You do have your socks pulled up as per regulation right? Ah Christ on a stick."

Jack stared again, one of Ianto's favourite curses under his breath given air and then he knew he would laugh if he didn't get a handle on this weird week he was having, "Medic. Sort out the young fella while Private Jones and I sort our camping area for the night."

She swung to look at him with triumph, even in her surprise he saw that spark of delight in gaining the first title and he knew she was his. Goddess on a shooting star, he knew she would be a good fit to his team if he left without anyone else gained from this trip.

"Sir, I suggest the clearing half a click ahead" she said calmly, waving a hand as she showed her map of the terrain in her head, "It is ample for tents and a fire pit. I feel the air dropping already and the cold can be of little help to us tonight, especially with one down already."

"Agreed Private Jones" Jack smiled, "Lead on."

"Sir" she spun and started to walk, then called back, "Medic, I will spray a trail so you can catch up with fucktard."

She pulled out a small spray can and intermittently sprayed trees as they walked and Jack was again struck with her mind, so sharp. He drew closer, "You have a good handle on the terrain soldier."

"Edidic mind" she replied without looking at him, her eyes casting for the easiest path for those behind them already flagging, even though the two of them were still fresh, "I see and hear everything, keep it all. Like a book, me."

"Good. Tech you say?" he asked "I do need a Techie that can stand up to Mars. He's a right prick and I've gone through three in the last year who are too intimidated."

"Well, maybe I should just shag him then" she replied as she stepped over a log and sprayed, "Cutting off his balls with my lady bits intimidating him might do it best sir."

Now Jack was laughing, unable to hide his mirth as he caught up to her, "Your dad must despair at your mouth young lady."

"No, Taddy is resigned to it, he tells me" she smiled, looking at him with an open smile "Says I am so much like my father he could shoot me sometimes. He forgives me though, every time. Like he did him. Love is a funny thing, whatever that is."

She strode forward and Jack found himself standing in the marsh as his recruits filed past with polite nods and strange looks.

He said she was like her father?

Not her Tad?

Jack blinked and then shook himself as he caught up to them at the clearing.

Kara giving orders without a second thought as those around her jumped to with equal ease.

He saw it.

It had taken him long enough and he didn't know how he was going to take the next breath as her head tiled back and that chin jutted out, her stance now more than familiar as she mirrored him.

Jack sat as the fire pit was assembled and went though names in his head, past exploits back in Cardiff. There was an Idris Jones, right? Worked at the council? He survived the madness.

Right?

Jack forced himself to remain calm as Kara demanded the tents be more uniform in placement, her lip curing as she called a grunt a Twat with the ease of a superior bastard.

Oh gods.

She tuned to him and grinned, her mouth opening as she glanced away again and he forced himself to take another breath as his daughter controlled the scene.

Christ on a stick.


	7. The other one drops

Kara came alongside Jack as they tramped, their cold breakfast ensuring sour faces except for the two of them and Anwen who was singing softly in Welsh, a lullaby she knew well as her Tad sang it to her as well.

"Sir, can I ask a question"

"Yes?" he said, careful to drop the 'love' that had been on the tip of his tongue.

"The team following us covertly, are they supposed to be detected or do I continue to pretend I don't know we are being tracked?" she asked and Jack looked at her as she continued to speak, looking at the trail ahead, "Only, if they are a covert team to observe us they are pretty crap at it. I detected them about two clicks back and although they are not advancing they are keeping too regular a pace to be a coincidence. Sir."

"Show me what you have" he demanded, pulling her aside as the others traipsed past morosely and took a knee, the PDA in her hand opening to a galley of photos she had taken of their tail.

"That one, zoom in" he frowned as he saw a flash of blue and he cursed softly, her face paling as well.

"Fegani" she whispered, "They are not supposed to be here."

"No shit Sherlock. The treaty prohibits hunting on this planet. The Shadow Proclamation are gonna be pissed" Jack muttered looking back behind them where the tail was, "Shit, shit and more shit. Coms. I need coms."

"Fergus, come!" Kara barked and the man shot forward with a look of eagerness, not the least bit insulted by her tone and Jack saw that they were all bending to her voice.

"Coms with Base, priority mauve" Jack said and Fergus blinked, then looked at Kara as he pulled out the Sat Phone and called the base, handing it to Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness, code Mauve. We have what appears to be a troop of Fegani on us and I need immediate evac ...plus a sweeper team to intercept and cleanse."

Kara felt a chill as his face changed to one she had seen in the mirror on occasion. Anger mixed with fear. This was not a drill, this was real.

Taddy was gonna have a cow.

.

.

.

.

Ianto wiped his hands on the hand towel as he pulled the door open, his clay model in the art studio forgotten as he stared at the bars and stripes that denoted bad news.

"Sir, we have a situation" the general spoke calmly with great respect, knowing this man could have his job in a heartbeat, "The Away Team have encountered Fegani and are calling for immediate evac and cleansing of the area. We need your expertise in ensuring..."

Ianto was already moving, cutting his speech off as he snatched his coat from the hook and shoved him aside then ran for the SUV waiting and as he slid into the waiting seat he pulled his sidearm out of the hidden holster inside the coat and checked his weapon.

"What are you waiting for" he said with a snarl, "Get me in there."

"Sir, I think they want you at the base to coordinate...."

"If you do not get me in a bird to drop me into the zone ASAP I will splatter your brains on that window and this man still wiping his face beside your twitching corpse will accommodate me better" Ianto said calmly as he checked the spare clip, never one looking up from his task, "My daughter is in there with the Captain and they both need me. Well?"

Ianto finally looked up and locked gaze with the General, "What'll it to be Merv? Deal or no deal because we both know I will sleep tonight ether way."

"Sir, we are efforting your request" the smaller man said as his fingers danced, the prospect of viscera on his suit not a pleasant one and Ianto leaned back in the seat and he did a mental inventory of what he had in his pockets, still needed, then voiced it to the smaller assistant.

The General didn't know if he should be relieved he was not the subject of the man's attention or more concerned.

Like I said.

He could have his job. One you only loose due to sudden death.

.

.

.

.

"What the fuck is a Fegani" Anwen asked in such a Gwenlike manner that Jack snorted softly.

"Alien fucks" Kara replied calmly, "Like killy killy die die eat your brains Aliens."

"Cool" Anwen reached for her backpack, "I have live loads in here for such an event. Mama told me never to listen when they said no live ammo."

"Your mother is a wonderful woman" Jack said warmly as Anwen dished out the bullets and they all primed their weapons, "Ianto taught her that. He always carried an extra clip for me in his pocket. The times that saved us, my clever Welshman."

Kara looked at him and frowned, "He's not yours. If he were yours he still would be, not a wreak of a thing hiding from you and the rest of humanity ."

Jack stared at her with open shock.

"Ianto?" he stuttered, "Are you telling me Ianto is alive?"


	8. And a welshman drops too?

Kara didn't know how to respond to him or the desperate sound in his voice so she turned to the nearest grunt, "No smoke. We do not give away our position until we hear a bird. Understand?"

"Sir" the grunt nodded, "What do we do?"

"I want you all to remove your survival kits, look for the survival blankets in the little packets. Fegani hunt with heat signature, the foil blankets will be an invisibility cloak. I want you all tin foiled up like bloody alien conspiracy theorists immediately, savvy?"

"Sir" he grinned as he rushed to give the order and Jack knew Fergus there was also a good fit, her nod at him confirmation as she watched him show Kent how to open his.

"Sir, we have incoming from the south, a small bird" a voice called softly, "Too small for extraction and we are in too dense an area. I believe its' gonna be a drop."

"Right, weapons and food most like" Jack stood and looked to the south, "Come on men. Look alive. We are about to get what we need to stay that way until we reach open ground for extraction."

They watched the black stealth chopper approach and bank, then three parcels dropped silently to their immediate left followed by a figure in black fatigues who did not use a guide rope, simply drooped effortlessly from the skid.

"Taddy" Kara whispered with horror as she recognised the Green Beret he refused to swap for the Torchwood black.

They raced to the drop zone and found Ianto already ripping into a parcel and he swung with the pulse rifle pointed at them, then lowered it as Kara ran for him and the only real safety now, "Taddy, oh my lovely Taddy."

Ianto watched Jack approach and sit heavily on the ground, his arms flapping out as shock took over and the others missed it as they tore at the provisions eagerly.

"Kara, see to your men love" Ianto said softly, "Temperance and calculation, like I taught you."

"Yes Taddy" she said as she pulled away and started to address the others, "I want a perimeter sweep, those dirty grenades aside and some of those land mines too. As we move we will muddy our trail, if they want to follow us we will make it hard and if they do find it we will make it fucking harder."

"SIR YES SIR"

"Hello Cariad" Ianto said as he crouched and looked into Jack's bereft face, "Long time no see, eh?"

"You're alive" Jack whispered, looking at the handsome man who had barely aged. "How?"

"Our unborn child took exception to the no breathing thing after Thames House and seemed to...regenerate me somehow" Ianto sighed, "I woke on the floor of the gymnasium, cold and alone. You and Gwen had already left to save the world. I was left with two options, go with UNIT or run."

"You ran" Jack said without hesitation.

"You taught me well. I didn't know what had saved me but knew it would be something they might want so yes, I ran. Created had a twin called Gareth before Lisa's rampage. My get out of jail free card and it was still active. I tried to work out where to go, where to hide and America seemed a good idea at the time. The Warehouse was happy to see me" Ianto shrugged, "Not like I've not been there before and it was easy to get lost in there for a few years or so."

"Warehouse 13" Jack whispered, "Holly shit. Those times I sent you there with artefacts, you were setting up a fallback?"

"Jack, you know I always have a backup plan" Ianto sighed, "Only she was not part of it. I panicked a bit, then found you had taken off on me. I also found out about Stephen and I had a lot to consider. She came first, always has, always will."

"I understand" Jack said sadly, slumping as he looked back at one of his lowest points, "I did what I had to and you know I would again. Of course you didn't want me in her life. Toxic."

"It's not that! Stop thinking the worst of yourself, I knew she would break you when you needed to be the man you pretend to be. Saving the world, not concerned with one small life." Ianto huffed, "You think it was easy? I liked living like that? Jesus wept. I missed you, I still miss you. Every day you son of a whore. And here we are, me surprised you even remember my fucking name. Each time I tried to reach out to you I was a day too late and a dollar too short. I gave up, not like you missed me, right?"

Jack felt the verbal slap and stood, offering a hand but his ...no. Not his anymore, is he...the Welshman stood without aid showing himself to be still younger than expected.

"You've not aged much, bar the silver in your sides" Jack noted, looking closer at the smooth features and slightly fuller face.

"I've not really aged at all" Ianto hissed, "I have these dyed to look older, people started asking questions and I wanted her to get her own place in life before moving to a new town here they don't know me. I am almost the same age I was when she was born... I died."

Jack knew that.

Really, he had.

Still sounded incredible.

"Your first reset after the event that killed you" he finally said, "It will always be now, like mine. Stuck the age your soul died."

The immortals shrugged and then moved to join their daughter.


	9. Banshee scream

She watched them approach and suddenly knew what she was seeing.

Jack glanced at Ianto with such regret as Ianto stared sullenly at his feet in that familiar way when on the verge of shooting someone.

Like a couple.

Gods.

"He's my father" she blurted out and Anwen turned to look.

"Nice looking bloke, how old is he?" she asked, "Looks fit."

Ianto's eyes rose in silent rebuke and she knew she had almost betrayed herself so she turned to look at Anwen, not her parents, "He's into yoga. Should see his downward dog. Bastard is more limber than me."

"Cool" Anwen grinned, "We moving out?"

"There is a clearing three clicks to the south" Ianto called out as he looked at the young lives around him, "We double time it, Grunt Jones..."

"Private" she corrected with pride, "I am Private now First Lieutenant."

"Right" Ianto nodded, "Good. Well done Sweetie. Right. Private Jones no doubt knows the area I mean and she will take point with...you."

"Fergus" she barked, "On me!"

"Shit" he jumped, then laughed as he scooped up a spare rifle and rushed after her as she disappeared into the bushes.

"I got a glimpse of them to the North, five clicks and closing" Ianto said to Jack, "They slowed to regroup with a second team. Seems they have ideas."

"Shit" Jack looked in that direction, "None of these kids are battle ready Yan."

"Tell me something I don't know" Ianto huffed as he tightened the pack straps.

"I doubt there is much left" Jack replied as he kicked foliage over the parachutes from the parcels, effectively hiding them then knelt and placed a live grenade that would tumble at the slightest movement of the cloth.

"You would be surprised at what I still question in this world" Ianto said softly as he started to walk, knowing Jack would fall into step as he always had. "How old are you? How long since your last regen to look like this?"

"She said you are alone. Not another love interest after me?" Jack asked as they walked, changing the subject.

"You really want to talk about that now?" Ianto snorted as he rubbed at his face, his annoyance thrumming.

"I have not loved anyone like you since" Jack said after a while, "I've had my flings and fun, sure. You know me but I've not...missed anyone like you."

"Jack I don't want platitudes and I don't want you to struggle to say what you think I want to hear. It's too late for that. It's about her now and she wants a place by your side. I would not deny her, even as my fucking heart broke when I realised her intent. Love her. I know you can at least try." Ianto slowed and checked their trail, placing another grenade carefully with a trip wire, then moving to another area and dropping a second to catch those who avoided the first more obvious one.

"I never said it" Jack agreed, "I know you wanted it and I couldn't give it to you. Did you ever ask why? Everyone I love dies. Usually once I declare my love. You think I want to live? To suffer? Gods, people call this a gift. A gift. Some gift. A forever of loss and regret. Gee, thanks."

"You forget who you are talking to" Ianto smiled, "Same boat, same creek. No paddle."

Jack laughed. He had missed that, the easy way Ianto disarmed him and the...

Ianto dropped to a knee, swinging to raise the rifle as the first grenade in the parachute went off and Jack cursed. Looks like they were not the only one double timing it.

"I don't like that" Ianto said as he started to run, his baby too far ahead for his liking, "They are moving too fast to be on foot. They have something."

"Agreed," Jack panted ad he kept pace, "I would say a couple of scouts on hover bikes or something."

"God, is this going to be a Star Wars style fight with Ewoks falling from trees or something" Ianto panted and Jack was again unable to control the laughter.

They caught up to the group who stood at the tree line, Anwen crouching with her gun trained on the clearing.

"Sweetie?" Ianto whispered.

"Too easy" Kara replied, "There are no birds, nothing at all. The clearing is right there but it feels too easy."

"And if it's too easy?" Ianto asked gently, promoting his child as he always had.

"Then it's not" she replied, lifting a rock and hurling it into the grass.

The world turned white as the place exploded and Ianto threw himself over his beloved child as the screaming started followed by gunfire.

They hadn't been hunted at all, their tail was not the main group. They had been the beaters, herding them towards the trap.

Jack wanted to curse but instead he looked over at Ianto who was crouching over their daughter with a look of pure hatred, the pulse rifle firing even as he swung it in a slow arc around the clearing.

Ianto had known this too.

Of course he had, Jack had been the one to once tell him they used this manoeuvre.

.

.

.

.

.

My dearest Lady Emma, this story came about with me thinking about Ianto putting a button on Jack's coat covertly while hiding from him. Also...I loved Captain America's Peggy Carter and have modelled Kara on her.

Then I saw her in battle mode with her fathers.... Predator style in a jungle.

The rest grew around that. Right now it's in freefall...as you know it could evolve into anything GODS


	10. Aaannnnnnd rest

Ianto knew Jack was kneeling beside him, flanking their daughter who was now standing, her banshee scream of defiance one he knew from her training as it made her focus on the tree line across the green grass and she fired with controlled malice, marking each shot in their direction without fear, her Taddy kneeling in front of her so she could rest the spent rifle on his shoulder as she reloaded and called out to the others, "Controlled bursts. Watch your streams and measure the fucking shots!"

She sounded just like Jack, her glee obvious as she raised her rifle once more, "Flashing, flashing!"

The sonic boom made the air shudder as she began firing the new ammo her beloved Taddy had given her, the other side of the clearing becoming a no-go zone as she stepped forward and gave the cry again, this time echoed by her grunts who took their place on the line, closing and standing shoulder to shoulder as they showed their mettle.

Kent hung back and looked panicked, Jack turning to fire without a second thought as Kent fired wild barely missing Anwen and making a lock of her hair fall unnoticed. Kent was dead before his body hit the ground and Ianto glanced back, then at Jack and nodded, tuning back as he rose to stride into the clearing.

Jack rose without a second thought, their years together making each action refined and automatic.

"Sweep!" Jack roared, aiming low and making them see what he was doing as he kept pace with Ianto who was firing from the hip into the thick brush.

Every second grunt dropped the muzzle to the ground and ahead of them live mines started to go off, their bullets sweeping the ground clean for the high firing partner.

Finally Jack raised a fist then the land became silent.

Anwen and Fergus started to move in a pincer move around the tree line either side as their fearless leader stood listening to the world around her, her eyes drinking in the scene.

"Tad?"

"Call it back love" Ianto said softly, his weapons on the ground as Jack stood beside him revelling in the creature that stood like a wild animal in the clearing.

"I feel some still alive" she called out, "Many dying but also at least three rabbiting. Follow?"

"No" Ianto said sadly, "I'm hit darling. We must evac. Two of yours are injured as well. We evac and raze the place with good old fashioned Dragon's Breath."

She spun to argue and then saw the blood trickling between his fingers, her face paling, "Taddy? Mortal?"

Ianto huffed though the pain as Jack knelt and examined the wound, "No love. I will simply need time to get my breath back."

"Captain?"

"He's right" Jack called back as he turned, moving to hide the extent of Ianto's injury from her, "We have wounded and we are more important than them. This area is slated for controlled burn, we will just bring it forward."

"Ah shit. Kent" she sighed, "When the fuck did he forget to zag?"

"Collateral damage" Jack said calmly, Ianto's hand now fisting the back of Jack's shirt in silent warning that he might need a little help, "Come on, call it. Your team now Sergeant Jones. Call it and get these privates of yours out of here."

The birds swooped down, hovering as the grass bent in silent worship and Jack lifted Ianto into the nearest one, turning to watch the others. He felt a spark of pride as he watched Kara lift Kent's body and run with him on her shoulder, her face one of calm as she flicked the body in and clambered in after it.

"ALL IN!" Jack roared, finally placing his foot on the skid and signalling lift off.

As they rose two more birds dipped, moving beneath them and the firey mixture of death was dropped into the trees, heading six clicks along. Even on hover bikes they would not have stood a chance. This alien substance was similar to Napalm but more controlled, eating everything in its path without flaring the surrounding area.

Good.

Kara leaned out of the bird and screamed down at the carnage below, "Yeah mother fuckers feel the burn!"

The others hooted with glee as it sank in that they had all gained title and their sergeant was to be one of them. One they would follow in the heart beat. Kara thought she might explode as she sat back and looked at her men. Her men. A sergeant. Christ on a stick, two promotions in one day. Unheard of.

Ianto started to lean into Jack more and Jack knew what was coming, the twist in his gut travelling to his heart as he watched Ianto's face go slack. Jack held him tightly as those around them revelled in their success, calling out drinks orders and laughing off the adrenalin.

As they banked once more Ianto's head lolled onto Jack's shoulder and he closed his eyes as he felt that familiar nose nuzzle against his jaw. Jack opened his eyes and looked at his daughter, his beautiful amazing and brilliant daughter as she broke down her weapon and order the others to do the same for safety.

As they revelled in their success Ianto finally went completely slack and Jack held his limp body.

Ianto died as quietly as a stoic Welshman could.


	11. hello again

"Kara, first out. This is your unit now, first out and last on" Jack called and she grinned as she leaped from the still descending bird, her glee evident in her rank.

Ianto was warm and soft in Jack's arms and he held him against him knowing that intense burn he hated so much. Ianto shuddered and the gasp was so quiet, like he was surprised by something then he drew back to look at Jack with those fathomless eyes he knew so well.

"Hey" Jack said softly, "She didn't notice."

"I hate that" Ianto said thickly as he blinked and then cursed softly, "How old do I look?"

"Like her brother" Jack said, then blanched, "Shit."

"Oh gods, get me out of here Cariad" Ianto begged and Jack nodded moving to the pilot's seat and firing up the engines still hot as they cycled down.

"What are you doing" Kara yelled as she watched the bird rise with her parents onboard and Jack waved as he called out the window.

"Your Tad has ruined his favourite suit and is pissed, his language is a bit blue so I will take him home to change, OK?" Jack yelled, "I will dress his side and use some of my healing salts, he will be good as new. See you at home later."

He flew in the direction Ianto indicated and set the chopper down in a small yard that was so immaculately kept it was clearly Ianto's, an old swing set in the corner with a plant growing on the swing seat. So Ianto.

Ianto leapt out and strode to the house still clearly angry and he was pulling his clothing off as Jack walked in and slowed as he looked at the photos on the walls of his daughter at various stages of her life.

She was always that cute.

Jack walked into the studio and looked at the painting of Ianto's, marvelling at their graphic colour and then he started to laugh as he saw the latest one still to be finished.

"Flanders Field" he called out, "Shit. Don't' tell me you are IJ Harken. Shit. I commissioned this."

"Really?"

Jack turned to see the Ianto he knew so well entering, shooting his cuffs as he smiled at him and then canted his head, "Jack, how long since you've died?"

"About...¦ah....Nineteen hundred and fifty something?" Jack shrugged, "I just didn't want to. Funnily enough it's the thought of waking up alone I don't like. I died so many times without you there and it never felt right. I guess I wanted to see if I would age. Other than the hair I've not changed much though"

"I like it, I liked the dark brownish black more" Ianto shrugged as he saw Jack's eyes flicking to the side, a sure fire sign he was about to run so he changed the subject, "But then again, bright orange with pink polka dots would suit you too so who am I to say."

"One time" Jack smiled softly, "That was one time and you never let me forget it. At least I didn't go bald like Owen did."

"Oh gods, I'd forgotten that" Ianto roared with mirth, his eyes dancing, "What a twat. Remember the hat he wore the next day?"

"I liked the pompom!" Jack defended, then sighed, "I've missed you. I swear to you Ianto, I never forgot you. I have you here."

Jack opened his VM and pushed a button, Ianto's snort of laughter erupting from it as Jack's face softened, then came soft singing. Ianto didn't' know Jack had even heard him singing in the shower.

"I have some of the singing in the church but this was more my liking" Jack said softly "Moonlight Serenade. Most people don't even know it has lyrics."

"I sing it to her" Ianto admitted, "it was her favourite, even more than the Welsh lullabies."

"Ianto..."

"I know what you want to say and I am not sure if I am ready" Ianto looked at him and sat on the sofa, rubbing his face, "What a mess. No way to hide this. Look at me. Thirty years old again, my daughter less than eight years younger. Gods."

"What about me" Jack pouted, "I look so old now, a cradle snatcher with you on my arm."

"With me...what?" Ianto snorted, "So sure I will fall into line."

"No tiger" Jack's faces softened, "It's me falling into line, so relieved to find familiar warmth in a place so cold. Ianto, I love you. Did, do, always will. I swear to you. I am too selfish and pig headed to give my life easily but I promise, I swear on Stephen's grave gods help me, I love you Ianto Jones."

"It's not so simple"

"Never is with the Welsh" Jack sighed as he stood, "Come on. Let's sort this..."

His words were lost in the explosion that forced both men back into the sofa that overturned and then pushed them through the wall into Ianto's art studio.

The air was full of dust and smoke, settling on the now dry clay sitting silently on the wheel.

Silence.


	12. Harkness foot in mouth disease

Jack gasped to life and found himself staring into grey pools of calm, his heartbeat slamming into place as he reached for Ianto's cheek. Heaven? Gods, he had missed that welcome.

"Focus" Ianto whispered, "Hostiles in my house."

Jack was immediately on alert as he watched Ianto pull the sofa cushions off to reveal a gun locker and he grinned at his smart cookie of a Welshman as he accepted a shot gun. The Webley was in the Coat still over the chair in the lounge, he hoped.

Ianto looked at him and grinned, pointing at him and Jack frowned then realised what he was saying. Silver Fox was no more. The reset pissed off handsome Captain grinned back as he rose gracefully and prepared to fire. You see, those who had attacked didn't know they have entered a Den of Immortals. They thought they had killed them and were now calmly crowing as they watched their man outside trying to start the chopper.

Fegani.

Jack frowned and then wondered if they had somehow managed to tag them while they were flying overhead. A dart of some sort and he made a mental note to check the fuselage for a tracker later, his only concern right now the Welshman who was striding past him.

"Excuse me, who the fuck is in charge here!" Ianto roared, making the six Fegani swing and gape.

One of them started to lazily raise his weapon and Jack fired from the hip with ease disarming the startled alien, "Really?"

"Well?" Ianto demanded "Who blew my fucking house up. I want to know what the hell you think you are doing."

"The Shadow Proclamation has already been informed of your earlier attack on my team, you really think this is going to help you when the potato heads turn up" Jack said with glee, watching the blue skins turn a dull grey.

"I still want an explanation!" Ianto demanded as he chose one at random and raised the shotgun, "Speak or die. Seriously, I am well pissed now."

"Him" a finger pointed at Jack, "Him Agent of Time. Wrist traveller."

"Wrist....wait. The VM?" Jack looked at his VM with surprise, "It's broken. The Doctor disabled it so I can't jump anymore."

They all slumped with obvious dejection at the mention of the Timelord and Jack felt sorry for them, "Look I don't know who sent you but they have played a nasty trick on you, and all of us. Lives have been lost for the sake of this trick, who was it? Who told you this knowing what it would mean?"

"Captain" one pouted.

"Yes?" Jack frowned as Ianto let his gun drop beside him.

"Cariad, I don't think they are addressing you, they are telling you" Ianto growled, "This Captain. Did he have a red jacket on, a Katana sword and cheek bones just as sharp?"

"John Hart?" Jack said with surprise, "Why the hell would he come back for another swipe at me after all this time?"

"Jack you of all people know time is wibbly wobbly" Ianto shrugged, "He could have told them any date knowing your gift."

"Damn it, he almost cost us our...." Jack stopped, blinked and looked at the Fegani again, then at Ianto with obvious meaning.

"Team" Ianto finished for him, "Yes, but luckily we can all part without further bloodshed."

The Fegani bowed and picked their way out of the damaged wall of the house, then simply blinked up into the sky.

"Jack?" Ianto stepped out and looked up, "Did they just get beamed up?"

Jack snorted and then cursed as squealing brakes announced the arrival of the next problem, their daughter entering the house screaming for her Taddy.

"Sweet Pea" Ianto said softly and she spun to face him, her confusion added as she saw Jack behind him. She was still blinking when Ianto spoke.

"Sweetie, it's OK" Ianto said softly, "We can explain. Your father and I..."

"I knew it!" she crowed, "I bloody knew it. He's my father isn't he. Oh my god, you two really have fucked, Ew! Oh god!"

Ianto stepped back as if physically slapped and he spun around Jack to flee the room as Jack stepped forward, "You have no idea the level of love I feel for him or the level of pain he went through. You think it was easy for him? I didn't know about you, he kept you secret even from me. Gods, you must be my child to be so vicious just then. How many pregnant men do you think there have been in the world? Truly? Two. You just insulted them by trivialising their love."

She blinked and looked in the direction her father had gone, then back at her ...shit. Father? Wait. What happened to his hair?

"Wait, what do you mean pregnant?" she asked slowly, the shock setting in further as she finally got the reason for her Tad's sorrow, "That's why he never talked about my Mom? Are you telling me he carried me? "

"And always will" Jack spat, "Even if his heart is in pieces, he will reserve a spot for you in the largest hunk. Ungrateful. Gods, mine alright."

Jack turned and left her standing there in the wreckage.


	13. moving out

"Ruined" Ianto said sadly and Jack went to ask if it could be mended between the three of them, but then followed his gaze to the painting on the easel. The dust had settled and the poppies looked pale and sad, like Ianto's face.

"Can it be saved Tiger?" Jack asked sadly as he looked around at the art works, all covered in dust and debris.

"Some" Ianto said softly, "Most of the artworks are behind glass or I used fixatives that mean they can be restored but this one was still in progress. Fuck."

"Tad?"

"Not now" he replied flatly, "I've had enough today. I am so fucking tired and hungry."

"Well, let's address the food issue because regeneration always makes me hungry too" Jack said as he pulled on Ianto's' arm, "Come on. Let them secure everything. Come on. Go check your wardrobe, it will be OK in there. Pack some things and come with me. OK?"

Ianto nodded, looking around at his destroyed studio for another moment, then sighed as he went to do as he was told. Kara stood defiantly staring at Jack in the Harkness Hero Pose. Jack now saw why it irritated Ianto when he did that.

"You too young lady" Jack said with a frown, "Until I am sure they are out of this quadrant we need to stick together."

As they packed he went back outside and slid his hands over the chopper searching for the tracker. The lack of one did not fill him with relief, rather it filled him with more concern as it meant they already knew where Ianto lived. Therefore, they had planned this snatch and grab.

Jack turned and watched Ianto move past the hole in the wall, bags in his hands and Jack went back in to relieve him of them. Soon Kara was back with her own bags and they picked past the soldiers swarming the property as Jack chose a vehicle at random.

"Jack?" Ianto frowned, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know, but we have to move" Jack replied, "There was no tracker on the hopper."

"Shit" Ianto threw his bag in and grabbed for his daughter's as she looked between the two men.

"What does that mean Sir?" she demanded.

"It means they already knew where this place was, they have been watching. Recon done. This means they knew you were important somehow. Either your Tad or you. Probably you as they saw my interest in you." Jack explained as he pulled on his safety belt and motioned for her to do the same, "They didn't know who you were, just that I had picked you...shit. The other recruits. Fuck."

"On it" Ianto called from the back seat as he held up a tablet, "We have units on the way to those off base, some were still in debrief thank god. We need to go into a secure channel and check things are really OK. Also, they don't know about our ability so they probably think we are dead. If it is John which it probably is he will want to crow. This is gonna piss him off that the Fegani folded so easily."

"Son of a bitch" Jack muttered, "Those on base are safe, we need to either go there as well or lead him away."

"You know my vote" Ianto said and his daughter grunted, nodding her agreement.

"Right then" Jack sighed as he started the vehicle, their trail now set, "We need to leave a trail if we are to set a trap or shake off the mad Captain Hart."

"How?" Kara asked, watching her Taddy work. Gods. This handsome young man was her Taddy. She looked at him and saw how handsome he was, even more so that the man she knew. Wow.

"Well standard Agency protocol is to look for markers" Jack said after he had driven while and considered, "John is lazy. Always was. We need to leave some crumbs, a bread trail."

"How?" she repeated with interest.

"First, we stop at a petrol station and fuel up, get our faces on the CCTV cameras. Maybe buy lots of stuff, random and weird so the clerk remembers us. Then he will come here, follow" Ianto answered, "Each stop we make, he will find us and follow. He will see what we chose for him to see."

"And then?"

"Then we wait for him to come to us and when he gets to the obvious place he will find he was double crossed" Jack nodded, "You father is right. Like I said John is lazy. He will use the CCTV to track us, we can use that to make sure he only comes to us when we are ready. We send him on a wild goose chase, then wait him out. He will not be able to resist showing himself at some point."

"Great. Road trip" she said softly.

"Jack can we at least drop her off at the base?" Ianto asked and Jack shook his head.

"Too risky, you know that" Jack replied and Ianto sighed.

Jack's plan included them then.


	14. exiting the vehicle

Ianto knew who Jack was talking to and sighed as things went full circle.

The last gas station had been a farce, complete with a marital spat with Ianto screaming at Jack for a divorce and the floozy to get out. Kara had enjoyed it far too much. The back roads had been dusty and the windows up had made the interior stuffy, at least they were back in a highway heading in a different direction no they had the red herring in place.

Kara was asleep in the back, her soft breath calming Ianto as he tried to get his head around the chaos in his heart and more than once he caught Jack glancing at him as he ground his teeth.

"I missed you too" Ianto said softly, breaking the silence.

"I understand your reasons for rabbiting" Jack sighed, "I still can't believe I never went back. I was going to, was going to carry you to your sister and do the while grieving thing but you know I don't do that. My pain was my fuel and it made me want to set fire to the world."

"This entire planet is a graveyard" Ianto said as his head fell back against the headrest, "You must have reminders everywhere of those you loved. I think ... I do know you loved me, at least sometimes, you did show in the end. It hurt to see you cry. It just wasn't enough. You understand that, right? My love for you was secondary to her need for me to keep her safe. You are not safe. Knowing she gravitated to you anyway is a stab to my heart because I knew...deep down I knew she would love you more."

Jack huffed softly, "Yeah, such a great role model me. Gods. I would have broken her heart so many times by now."

"You're tired" Ianto muttered as Jack swerved the vehicle slightly, "Either pull in somewhere or give me the wheel. I am capable of driving ya know, even had me own car."

Jack snorted with mirth at that familiar snark of a tired Welshman and he pulled into a sideway, "Come on, we'll swap."

"I'll drive, you two need to sleep before we hit civilisation again, at least four more hours of bloody trees yet." A voice said from the back seat.

"Actually only two love" Jack answered, "We are about to go off grid where he can't find us."

"Is it known?" Ianto sat forward with interest as he realised Jack had a plan that might work, "Any chance of a lead back?"

"No" Jack grinned, "It's an old hunting lodge by the lake. Belonged to one of my conquests about half a century ago. I have a caretaker keeping it clean now and then. After I came back from ...Miracle Day I hid there and licked my wounds for a couple of years before getting back in the game. Gwen was so relieved when I strode in demanding an update. What an update that was. She whomped me. Like, straight up slapped me."

"You asked for it" Ianto muttered, rubbing his eyes, "You always ask for it."

"Well, I know I am gonna ask for what is coming" Jack said and Ianto frowned at him as he considered, then his face paled as he reared back in his seat.

"No. Not here, no you didn't" Ianto spluttered, "Christ, you did."

"We needed supplies, back up and someone we could trust at our backs. That little star in the back is most important now, she is mortal, she is who we have to think of first." Jack defended himself.

"But Gwen? Gods, she must be ...what....in her fifties. Shit" Ianto sighed.

"Come on, she is still just a spring chicken" Jack laughed and Ianto grunted, clambering through the seats so Kara could move up and she looked at her father...her father...huh...as he got out and stretched his legs, walking around to take the passenger seat while checking the tyres. She was finally getting her head around things and the words she had spluttered in her shock were little daggers, Gods Taddy must be so hurt with her blurt of confusion.

Jack sat and snoozed, waking now and then to check their location and he told her went to turn off the cabin finally coming into view in the headlights. There were two SUVs sitting in the yard and Kara made a small noise as she recognised the SUV for their unit, grinning as she knew Jack had called in some of the squad for back up.

She brought the SUV to a stop and turned to check her sleeping Taddy when the front passenger door was wrenched open and Jack squeaked as he was seized and yanked from the seat while she cried out with fear.

Ianto exploded from the back, the blade that lived on his wrist and matched the one his little girl always wore was deployed and Ianto roared with anger as he leapt on the back of the man who was struggling with shock as he found a Welsh Dragon dragging him into the dark.

"TADDY!" Kara screamed, her side arm raised and she looked at her father lying on the ground...laughing?


	15. hell or high water

"Ianto....Ianto, don't kill him darling, he doesn't regenerate as easily. Oh gods, that is..." Jack let another burst of laughter out, "Rex you silly bastard. Meet Ianto Jones, the only man who ever got the better of me."

Ianto had released the black man who was crawling away from him with wide eyes and he flicked his wrist, making the blade disappear.

"Nice trick" Rex said shakily as he rose.

"Full of tricks, me" Ianto said and Rex blinked.

"The Welshman" Rex said with surprise, "Jesus. This is the one you mooned over when drunk? Your Yan whatever."

"Ianto and don't make fun of his name" Jack frowned, "It's a lovely name."

"Well, you got it tattooed on your arse enough times before each reset wiped it" Rex snorted, "Well. He looks so...young."

Kara carried her bag inside and found Gwen sitting at the table reading, she looked up and rose to greet her, "You are here with Jack?"

"Kara!" Anwen's face was flushed as she shot out of the side room followed by an embarrassed looking Fergus and Kara resisted the urge to leer at them.

"Aye, aye" Rhys called out, "How many am I cooking for then?"

"Three of us, me and my Tad plus the Captain" Kara replied still unable to call him Jack.

Jack entered and stopped, his face showing his anger as he looked at everyone, then he turned to Gwen, "What the hell is this? Rex out there and your family in here and...Fergus? What the hell. I told you this was covert Gwen!"

"If you think I am leaving my family behind in a crisis think again!" she snapped, her hands moving to her wide hips.

"Gwen the only ones in danger are me, Kara here and...Kara where is your Tad?" Jack turned and looked back out the door into the dark beyond the porch light.

"He'll be pissed about the vehicles and probably sweeping them" she shrugged, "He has this thing about trackers."

"Yeah. Torchwood standard...Gwen. Tell me you swept your vehicle" Jack sighed.

"Of course I did" she snapped, "Rex and I checked it before we left the compound."

"Wait, the compound. You left from work. What about the other one then?" Jack recalled two vehicles as they pulled up. "The mini van?"

"Mine" Rhys called as he entered with a handful of cutlery, "I met them at the gas station, we all fuelled up and travelled together."

"And you swept his as well" Jack said slowly, sighing at her blank expression.

"I'll go help Tad, you sort the sleeping arrangements" Kara said to Jack with a Jones Eye roll.

She walked out into the dark, passing the back man who was entering with more bags, calling out to Jack with amusement about the SUV he had been driving. She found her Tad's feet sticking out from under one of the vehicles and she knelt, looking under the high wheel base, "Tad?"

"This is Rhys' one, they never fucking swept it. The bloody keys were still in it, seriously" Ianto snarled and she leaned down further to look up, her eyes flowing the pen light as it searched like a laser beam. Then came a soft sigh.

"Taddy?"

"Sweet Pea, I need you to head inside and..."

Ianto's yelp as he was dragged by his feet from under the vehicle drowned her cry of alarm and she rose knowing an order is an order, turning and running for the cabin with fear as her Tad snarled at someone he seemed to be struggling with.

Ianto knew she would be safe if he could buy her time to get to Jack so he focused on his attacker, noting that there only seemed to be one person, trying to slam him against the vehicle. Too close for a head butt, they were practically dancing so he sank his teeth into the earlobe, enjoying the scream next to his own ear. He felt the smaller built body convulse and then the hot slam of something hit his diaphragm and he released his prize with a bark of pain, looking down to see a blade entering him in the moonlight.

Ianto looked up into the savage snarling face of John Hart and knew his daughter needed him to focus, slapping his hands around John's and trapping them on the hilt of the sword as he pulled him closer, the sword sliding cleanly thorough flesh like a knife through butter. Strong potter's hands, sculptor's hands. A warrior's hands like a vice.

John clearly hadn't expected this, his eyes widening as Ianto snarled at him, blood starting to drip from his mouth as the sword started to slide though the vehicle's panel work. Then Ianto fumbled in his pocket as he convulsed and he pulled out the keys, holding them up by his head so John could see them, then he hit the ignition button and the minivan started, lurching forward as the Katana slid into the engine block.

John face changed to horror as the distinctive sound of metal snapping filled the air and Ianto's hands, slick with his own blood pulled again, the sword going to the hilt as the engine jammed on the blade.

"Check mate mother fucker" Ianto hissed as he released the blade and slammed his hands against John's ears, the blade up his cuff engaging.


	16. prioritise

"Captain, there's someone out there fighting with Tad, there was a tracker on the minivan" Kara yelled as she slammed in and Jack ran to her, placing his hands on her upper arms.

"Kara, you stay here and defend" he said softly, "Rex and I will go help Tad, OK? Your mission is to shoot anyone or anything that isn't us. Understand?"

"Sir, yes sir" she snarled as she pulled a side arm from her jacket pocket already scanning the cabin, "Cut the lights and leave just the fire"

Jack knew her training had kicked in as she sought night vision and he slid out the door as Rex took a defensive stance on the porch. He ran for the minivan and slowed as he neared it, finding Ianto embracing John Hart as the two men eyeballed each other silently.

Jack approached slowly, "Guys?"

Ianto's eyes slid to him but John remained unmoving.

"John? Step back" Jack asked, the smell of blood hitting his keen nose as he drew close enough to see the black liquid in the moonlight as it pooled at their feet. Blood. Turns black in moonlight. Shit. "Baby?"

Ianto drew his hands back, the blade at his wrist visible with black liquid also dripping as John let out a sigh and stumbled back, his hand rising to cover the ear Ianto had pierced, his face still full of wonder as Ianto spat a mouthful of blood into his face and let his arms drop.

Jack was here.

Kara was safe.

Ianto went limp as his depth rattle filled the air.

"Shit a Gertle" John choked, leaning forward and groaning as his hand rubbed his ear, "Fucker just stabbed my head."

Jack swung.

John hit the ground hard, Rex coming out of nowhere to kick the prick as he writhed on the ground and knocking him out. Jack stood looking at his dead love and sighed, seizing the handle in order to pull the Katana out, then he saw what Ianto had done and cursed.

"Rex, help reverse the engine, put it in reverse and push it back so it releases the fucking blade." Jack grunted and Rex swore as he tried to help, sliding to one side as Rhys stormed over to put his weight against the grill as well.

"Rhys why the hell are you not inside with the others?" Jack snapped. Finally the blade was released and Jack dragged it out, flinging it back behind him as he let out a single sob, catching Ianto's body as it slumped into his arms "Oh darling, I am so sorry. I should have left her to rot."

He lifted Ianto into his arms and settled on the grass lawn to rock and stroke the smooth cheek.

"Taddy?" Kara called from the porch.

"Stay there love, Taddy needs a minute" Jack called without turning to look at her, knowing by now she had her Tad's knack of knowing when he was lying, "Tad's winded, we'll be inside in a sec to explain"

Kara hesitated, then stepped back inside and closed the door as Rex knelt and looked at Jack with growing annoyance, "Him too? Seriously?"

Ianto came back with a jolt, sitting up and cursing up a blue storm as he slapped at his torso and then slumped back against Jack.

"Easy, easy Tiger" Jack crooned, "Well done. Good job."

"Kara" Ianto gasped as he clung to Jack, the residues of death still lingering in his bones.

"Doesn't know, thinks you struggled and got a knee to the groin" Jack whispered, "That much blood will be fucking impossible to hide."

"Shit" Rex said from the other side of the vehicle, "Where to fuck did he go?"

"Great. He got away?" Ianto glared at Jack, "Really? You let him go?"

"Ah, hello? You were dead, our daughter was about to walk over and I panicked!" Jack spluttered as Rex leaned against the now useless minivan.

"Daughter" he said with his arms folded on his chest, "That lovely thing is yours?"

"Call her a thing one more time, I fucking dare you" Ianto growled in that deep baritone that made Jacks' dick twitch.

"Yes, Kara is our daughter" Jack said softly, "She doesn't understand everything but does know she is my daughter. Don't upset Ianto, do you remember your first few regens? Ianto hasn't died since...."

"Kara's birth" Ianto struggled to rise and he pulled at his wet shirt with open disgust, "Damn it."

Jack slid his Great Coat off and threw it around Ianto's shoulders to hide the worst of the damage to the clothing and Ianto groaned, "Cariad, blood is hell to get off wool."

"Nonsense" Jack snorted, "the old girl has missed you. She will behave and soak nicely."

They staggered inside and Jack helped Ianto sit gingerly on the sofa, "Right, pack."

"What?" Gwen squeaked.

"John just attacked Ianto, he will attack us again once he has healed, probably soon as there is this thing in his wrist called a Vortex Manipulator so the time it takes him to heal had little effect on his decision of when to return and try again." Jack growled, watching her stare at Ianto with open shock.

"Hello Gwen" Ianto said as he leaned back to ease his back, "Long time no see."

"You've not aged" Gwen said, her eyes flicking between the three men as Rex sat next to Ianto, "Jesus, you're like them aren't you."

Rhys huffed in the doorway, "Bloody Torchwood."


	17. moving to another site

Kara sat in the front passenger seat as Rex drove their SUV, Jack in the back cradling Ianto as he slept. She had a lot to think about and she turned to look at the man driving, the man her....father...trusted with their life as he had spat at Gwen to drive her own damned vehicle.

"You angling to ask me something or just memorising my face" Rex asked softly, unnerved by the stare that was pure Harkness intensity.

"I know who you are. Rex Matheson, Miracle Day Hero. You and the captain reversed it, saved us all and made this a brave new world" she said as she marvelled at it all, "I was just a toddler, my Taddy kept me pretty well locked up for the event but I do remember one day on TV there was a programme about you both and he sat and cried. Gods, so long ago I had forgotten him crying as he looked at the telly. I thought that was how my Mama dies or something. He never talked about it, now I know he cried because he saw my Father."

"God, you are his daughter alright, did you even take a breath there?" Rex snorted softly, "Jack does that, talk in such a big way"

"A big way" she repeated, then laughed softly, "Taddy calls it my American Mouth."

Rex grinned, his teeth gleaming in the moonlight, "Ah, he is just as dry and annoyed as I imagined him in my head. Your father talked about him a lot in the down times. Has a picture of him on that strap thing. His face would change, like...younger when he looked at it."

"I think they loved each other" she leaned back against the car seat, "I always felt I was a product of love. My Tad told me I was a blessing, a gift."

Their coms crackled, then Anwen's voice came over the connection, "Fergus says the turn is just ahead, we have little warning because it's so overgrown."

Rex shifted in the seat and intently watched their brake lights, swinging after them up the old dirt track that shook the vehicle and woke Ianto with a start in Jack's arms.

"Easy, easy Yan, it's OK" Jack soothed and Ianto pulled away, confused in his waking with him and stared at Jack, then remembered and looked down at the now dry and crusty clothing. "It's OK. We are almost to the old ... Fergus? What was it again?"

"A mill sir" Fergus replied in their ears, "My uncle purchased it and did it up but my aunt hates it being so far out. They never go there, not in years. I know the man who cares for the place keeps it in good repair. He lives just next door. He will see us, I will talk to him. I've been out here a few times for fishing in the summer, he's cool."

"Your uncle knows you use the place?" Rex asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror in time to se Ianto push Jack away from him and shift back in his seat. Trouble still between them?

"Nah. Lives in France and thinks he's a big shot" Fergus laughed, "Probably forgot he even has the place, so many properties his agent just shells out money for them. Like, probably the agent had worker bees, so many hands exchanging money, no trail. When they talked to us in training about bug out places and of the grid and stuff I remembered this place and thought it would be perfect. A nice wee hidey-hole."

"Obviously it's you he has been watching Jack, he didn't know about Ianto or your raven haired princess here." Rex considered, "He's been watching and planning, but mostly around you. Until a few days ago Fergus here wasn't even on his radar. He won't have even clocked him inside the cabin. I say it's safe."

"Agreed" Jack's voice was soft, sad.

As was Ianto's' sigh.

"Taddy? Are you OK?" Kara twisted in the seat to look at him as he slumped against the door with a look of doom.

"Cold and tired love, that's all" he replied, "I just want us somewhere safe, a roof over our heads and a hot bath to wash the day off."

"If Fergus is unknown then we could send him for supplies, right?" she asked and Jack answered.

"No, he's known here and anyone commenting on him begin back in town without warning might put up flags. No. Anwen is the best to send out for supplies, she is the least likely to get attention of the unwanted variety."

"I don't want my daughter...."

"Speak for yourself" Rhys cut his wife off and they were all glad they were not in the SUV in front as Gwen's growl was picked up by the coms as Rhys berated her. "This is her bloody world, her fight too. I told you, I said to you when she first asked to join you that it would be over my dead body. Well. You overruled me missus, so here we are. Don't look at me like that, I have had it up to me back teeth with your bloody pouting. Jack is right. Anwen will dress down, tie her hair back and act like another fucking tourist passing through, she can mask her accent well enough to give it a French flavour. Just another tourist."

"Agreed" Jack sighed as he watched Ianto rub his face, then look at his hands with disgust. "Fergus tell me this place had a bath at least."

"Ah...sir, you ain't gonna be disappointed" Fergus sighed, "They really refurbished the place."

Ianto's hands fell into his lap as his head fell back.

Jack wished he could hold him again but knew that moment had passed as Ianto woke more.


	18. comfort in familiar things

"Ianto?"

Jack stood in the bedroom fill of uncertainty as he looked at the neatly folded PJs on the end of the bed. Christ, a full on crisis but Ianto would be damned if he would let his PJs go, huh? Some things don't change. Wonderful.

"Remember that time we were hiding from the Sagerffs?" Jack called out as he reached out to caress the fabric of the clothing, "We are in the fucking tent up in the mountains? You have those PJs in the bottom of the bag? Owen stalled out for a good minute just staring at you like you had an extra head growing in."

"I like PJs"

Jack turned to watch Ianto approach, freshly bathed and slightly pink from the hot bath with his hair spiked up. He looked even younger that thirty odd, he looked like he was going to whack a weevil with a lump of wood gorgeous.

"You are drooling" Ianto said as he let the towel drop, knowing how mean that was but enjoying Jack's sharp intake of breath as he pulled on the PJ bottoms.

"Taddy, decent?"

"Yes love" he replied as their daughter bounced into the room and shot for the bed.

"YAY" she snatched up the PJ top and kissed Ianto's cheek then shot into the bathroom while yelling she was gonna use his razor too, his soft snort of amusement not lost on Jack.

"She does that a lot?" Jack asked as he sat on the bed and watched Ianto dry his hair with the towel.

"Always has. It started because we were on the run and easier to split the PJs. She was so small and...well. She wore the top half like a wee plaid night gown. Now she is fully grown it is a rare occurrence but if she is upset or overtired she will come searching for the top. I never wear one now, feels wrong to wear her clothing. Weird huh?"

"Sweet" Jack corrected gently as he stored the comment about being on the run, "The word is sweet Tiger."

"He will come again" Ianto sat next to Jack, looking at him with that stare that always made him feel mushy inside, "Hart."

"If he can, yeah. We need to stay out of sight for a couple of weeks. Nothing big, just enjoy a holiday, yeah? We go back and it will barely register. Besides, he was not expecting you, I think you scared the shit out of him with that sneak attack on his ear." Jack grinned.

"I have never done that, always wondered though" Ianto flopped back in the bed, his taught stomach looking so damned fine with that swatch of fur, Jack swallowed as Ianto continued to speak unaware of the effect he was having on Jack, "I actually heard the pop as the blade went through the ear canal. Must have hurt like a bastard. He will heal though, zapped himself to somewhere where he can convalesce?"

"And hopefully consider himself warned" Jack agreed with a huff as it was typical of Ianto to worry about the man who had just killed him, leaning back and propping himself up with an elbow to look down on Ianto, "You changed the game. He hates changes like that and will be wary for a while. He might consider the standard jump and attack, coming back at me some time in the future when he thinks you are out of the way. He will not want a rematch with you."

"Is that likely to happen?"

"What."

"Us being out of the way?" Ianto's eyes were searching and Jack knew why he had pulled away from him now. It was not anger, but sorrow. Ah shit. Not fair. Not fair at all.

"Ianto, you would have to be in the way first tiger" Jack said softly, "You will never be a chore or a burden or a bloody roadblock. Not for me. That's why he will be flummoxed. Each time he checks on me and finds you he will think there is a glitch or something. I don't keep companions. He doesn't know you are not just one of those. How can he. I told him I don't do love. I have never lied to him, I mean at the time I believed that of myself. I know what love is now and...who I am now. I don't want to let you go. Either of you. Please, tell me you missed me? Just a little? If only to open the jam jar? I have missed you for millennia""

Ianto's face crumpled and Jack collapsed, pulling him into his arms as he clung to him, both men unbelievably relieved their daughter who was singing loudly in the next room was OK. They were OK.

They had found each other again.

They were forgiven.


	19. sugar with the medicine

Kara re-entered the room and walked over to the bed, pulling at the covers and sliding in with her Tad grunting as he moved to accommodate her and it was not until she settled that she felt the hand sliding from her Tad's hip to hers and squeezing before going back to hug her Tad again.

"Sir?"

"Hush baby" Jack whispered from the other side of Ianto, "We need to rest. Big day tomorrow, I hear fishing may be involved and Rhys might finally kill his wife is she comments on his cooking of the fishies."

She giggled, the image so funny and then her face broke into a wide grin in the darkness as she revelled in the sudden clarity that she had her father's sense of humour. All the times her Tad had rolled his eyes and groaned as he shook his head and told her she must be adopted or something, his child could not think that way. He was not just playing with her, he had been seeing his lover in her and lamenting.

She woke to the bed dipping and her Tad's mumble of complaint.

"Sorry Tiger, gonna do a sweep of the perimeter, go back to sleep" Jack whispered so she lay still facing her Tad and she could see Jack's silhouette in the moonlight as it streamed through the window. He leaned over Ianto and kissed him gently, reaching out to stroke his hair, "I'll be back before you know it with my cold feet you hate so much baby."

Ianto grunted again and she now knew where she got those from too, currently her own trapped in her Taddy's where he always warmed her toes for her. The door swung shut and Ianto sighed softly, "You awake?"

"He loves you"

"Sometimes" Ianto muttered pulling her against him and letting his hands slide over her shoulders lovingly, "Jack is complex. Love is not easy for him it's dangerous. He panics about it a lot. Has mourned so much."

"Seems easy enough when he looks at you Tad" she scolded, "You two pussyfoot about each other like those birds preening for a mate and wondering if the other has prettier plumage."

Ianto snorted with mirth, "Cheeky mare."

"So handsome, I mean I always knew but I am still amazed" she wriggled in his arms like she always did when exited.

"He is Sweet Pea" Ianto agreed, "Like a movie star complete with ego."

"No ya divvy, I mean you!" she poked his chest, "Taddy. You are so young and handsome. I mean, like a big brother all masculine and 'snap a man's neck' kinda mean."

"I will have you know young lady that I have never snapped a man's...wait. Strike that, I might have done actually." Ianto sighed and she giggled never knowing when he was playing and loving him for it. He didn't lie, not to her. No need when she worked it all out in the end anyway.

"Taddy?"

"Are you going back to sleep or not ya mad mare!"

"Uuuuummmmm...not!" she declared with a squeeze and he laughed, his lips finding her forehead as he rubbed her shoulders gently, her cheek finding his fuzzy chest. She closed her eyes to listen to that lovely heart that beat just for her. He told her that once, when she was so tiny. His heart was her's. So many nights she had laid there listening to that thumping piece of love. Her Taddy. Ianto was humming softly as his hands stroked and she knew he was tricking her, a growl as she felt herself turning to mush and molasses, running away into the bedding and seeping into...

Her little snore made him smile and the door opened quietly as Jack retuned, puffing, "Colder than a witches' tit out there."

Then he undressed and slid in, those damned feet. Gods. Ianto moved his legs so Jack would slide his feet between his shins and warm them, high enough not to touch Kara's now under Ianto's. The dick pressed into the small of Ianto's back was semi-erect but Ianto paid it no mind, the Captain was always ready for action that one and he knew Jack was not hitting on him. Not with their girl in the bed.

"Fergus is on watch" Jack whispered softly as his hand slid up Ianto's waist, "Then Rex."

Ianto grunted and drifted away, knowing they were safe. The darkness was his old friend, encompassing the cabin and the surrounding bush land like a large angry beast. Ianto imagined it as a black dragon, crouched over the cabin with the stars it's pelt, two starry eyes looking for danger as they slept safely in between its feet.

"Doing the dragon visualisation again?" Jack whispered and Ianto grunted, Jack grinning as he burrowed his face into Ianto's hair and let himself drift.

The world turned.

A family slept.

A dragon watched in the stars.

.

.

.

I gave you three chaps today to lessen the blow that I am moving back to single postings from here on out. There may be an occiasional second chap if I think you may die from the suspsense but we are catching up to my writing and I think a couple of days with no chaps might make you suffer more. xxxx


	20. kissing fools

Ianto was standing at the sink in his bath robe looking out the window as his daughter and her friends leapt into the water, grimacing at the cold that was soon inducing the shrieks as they fought to get out again.

"Mad" Gwen said softly behind him, "We were never that mad."

"That night the power went out and we forced Owen to go out for food" Ianto said as he stirred the cup of coffee gently, "He complained that just because he was dead it didn't make him stupid. Worried his fingers would fall off or something. Remember? You pulled off your second pair of socks and shoved on his hands for gloves and he was so taken back he stopped moaning."

Gwen laughed softly at a memory so old and hidden in the depths of her mind that it was long forgotten, now vivid in the morning light as the man who looked that same as he did then turned to face her with a soft smile, "white with two."

"Thank you" she accepted the cup with a grin, taking a sip and then seeing the plunger and tasting the explosion "God man, I've missed your magic touch."

"I am sorry Gwen" Ianto sighed, "I was so afraid and I knew UNIT would stick me in a tank of formaldehyde so quickly that I would barely have time to even fight for my child before she was taken away for dissection. I had no choice, not really. She had to come first. Jack was gone, you were pregnant as well."

"I was pregnant too wasn't I" she smiled as Rhys entered with a bag of groceries he had remembered still in the back of the SUV.

Ianto looked at him and couldn't help but snort as his hand pulled out a can, "Bloody beans!"

Rhys paused, looked at him and then the can of baked beans and laughed softly, "Yeah. I don't think I will serve Anny some. Not with that boy clearly not capable of birth control."

Gwen's smile faded and she swung to stare at their children again as Ianto shook his head and rolled his eyes. Typical. She hadn't even thought about the fact her daughter was sexually active let alone with her piece of fluff in tow. Like...where had he slept last night? Hmmmm?

"Jack and Rex are doing some sort of macho display of power, cutting the wood" Rhys said as he started to fill the cupboard, "Both with their shirts off leering at each other like there might by a crotch display next followed by arse flashing."

"Like baboons" Ianto agreed with the dead pan eye roll that had them all sniggering.

"TADDY!" his princess shot into the cabin and headed straight for him with wild eyes, crazy hair and cold skin. Ianto didn't think twice as he opened his arms and let her plaster herself around his hot torso, pulling his robe abound her. She was his little girl, he was her Taddy. Age just numbers as they looked like lovers in their embrace.

"Christ on a stick" he squealed as her cold nose burrowed into his neck, "You bloody horrible child. Gods!"

Anwen and Fergus entered with Fergus holding both towels around her, his own teeth chattering as he encouraged her to sit by the fire, "I'll...I'll...god....get you....blanket...thing....shit"

Rhys leaned against the counter and watched the shivering mess head for the bedroom, emerging with a blanket for Anwen which he tuckered around her before heading back for one of his own. He looked over at Ianto who nodded as he agreed.

He'll do.

Jack came storming in, thrusting his hand at Ianto with a pout, "Splinter, deep. Ouch."

"Oh god, caveman speak." Ianto said with the calm eye roll they all loved, "Me make better. Sit."

Kara shot off to get dressed with braying laughter as Jack sat. He looked at Ianto with delight as he heard his own laughter still going in the other room. Ianto sat and pulled out his repair kit, choosing a needle from the little folder and he leaned in, humming as he examined the hand, the he looked at Jack through his lashes and smiled softly.

Jack grinned back, then jumped, looking down as Ianto straightened up and placed the needle back in the wee folder. Jack brought his hand close to his face, going cross eyed.

"What, need it kissed better as well?" Ianto demanded.

Jack lowered the hand and smiled softly as Ianto realised what he had offered and he shrugged, leaning in to place his hand on Jack's knee as their lips met in a gentle kiss.

Eyes closed, hands clasped together they looked like the couple Gwen always imagined them to be when nobody was looking, Ianto canting his head to give Jack a mild dominance as Jack devoured him, hands now grasping at shoulders as they deepened the kiss.

Kara came out of the bedroom and watched her parents, seeing the way her father was cradling Ianto as if he were his beloved sweetheart and she felt herself gush.

They fitted like they were made for each other.

I guess, in the end they were.

Well.

Remade.

Right?


	21. windows

Gwen found Ianto again, this time standing at the end of the dock looking out over the water.

He knew she was going to push, always did and he was ready now.

"I woke on the floor and I knew you had gone" he said softly, "I knew you had to. I knew it tore you apart and I know you were determined. You did your duty. I know that. I ran, wondering what the hell had happened, why and how. I ran to Archie. Where else was there left? I was Torchwood all the way, remember? He's the one who detected the pregnancy which explained my regen as Jack's bloodline worked, got me the things I needed including the airfare to here. That fake twin Gareth still in the system. Gods, I was a mess and he was fantastic."

"He's dead now" she said sadly and he nodded.

"Ianto...why didn't you come to me?" she asked, "Afterwards, when it was all done and dusted. I could have used a friendly face."

"Me too" he sighed, "But I also had a duty to my child. Miracle Day proved me right, gods I hated that but I knew I had to stay out of it for the sake of my baby. I thought of you. Yours. I watched that night, the night he left. 'watch me' he said, that fake bravado as he shot off world. Ran. Always was a runner."

"You were angry" she sighed, "The whole world watched you die. Declare your love and him, stupidly choking on the words."

"I don't begrudge him that Gwen" Ianto turned to face her, his cheeks had high colour stark with the cold "We had an agreement not to say those words. We always agreed. The L word was out of bounds. I used it because I knew he would remember it. If nothing else, he would remember me for that breach of his rules. You know he hates anyone challenging him like that."

"Oh Ianto, he will never forget you ya twat" she snorted, "Your death changed him. I sometimes wonder if he would have sacrificed his grandson like that if he wasn't already so angry. Sometimes I think he would have anyway, others I wonder. It's like something broke."

"The longer time went, the harder it got. Then I saw him with others, that CCTV patch Tosh set up still works, even now. I figure he was over me, laughing and dancing with others" Ianto rubbed his face, "I lied to myself, I know that. Seriously though, he was better without me."

"You always had that uncanny ability to make me want to slap you" she hissed, "You stupid man. He has died so many times, Miracle Day almost ended him and you know he thought of you even then! We don't all get a true love, that shit doesn't happen for everyone. Rhys is mine. I know that. Look hard and clear ya stupid man. Why you. Why not his daughter? Grandson? Why you? Was it because of the baby? Or did the baby survive because of you? It all circles back to him. Him. The one you want to shag silly. I always hated the fact you could make everyone else invisible, even me. Entering the office with his mug and your tie perfect, him stopping mid sentence to leer. Watch you leave and then sigh softly like the world was ending. Gods."

"Really?" Ianto smiled as he canted his head.

"God, I should just push you in" she faked a shove and he laughed as he evaded her, his arms automatically hugging her and he felt her middle-aged body and all its soft wonder. She had grey in her hair and her hips were wide. She was almost the same clothing size though, just her hips a bit wider and he leaned in close, kissing her temple.

"Still a good looking woman Gwennie" he said softly, her arms hugging him back.

"Bastard" she muttered, "So young and strong."

"But still shite at bingo, you can trump me there" he said, then yelped as she slapped at him and he laughed. "You can get half price bus tickets right? Pensioner day at the restaurants?"

He laughed as he danced away, her ineffective slaps meeting air as she laughed and forgave him for leaving her. Rex watched them from the small boat tied to the dock as they played for a while, then she went in to see what Rhys was cooking and Ianto looked over at Rex with an unnerving stare that made him realise Ianto had known he was there all along.

"You see that's the thing with Gwen. Selfish, sees the world from her own window like nobody else had a window to peer out as well. She can't look through the world from someone else's window, see their point of view. To her there is only her window" Ianto said softly as he looked down at the man sitting in the boat, not looking superior even from the height advantage, "You have to learn to adjust your own thinking to find her view, where her window is on the matter and explain to her what she is looking at. Resist the urge to shoot her."

Rex grinned, seeing why this guy can get under your skin.

He found himself liking him despite Captain Arsehole being part of the package.

.

.

.

.

So a double post as you all died a little. Tomorrow I will see if you can have another but you are almost caught up to me now, OK?


	22. the sound of pennies dropping

Ianto found his daughter out in the garage under the bonnet of an old truck, cursing softly as her arse wriggled. Good genes in those Jeans. He grinned at the thought, the other pair of jeans also well packed as Jack asked her for a spanner.

"In a minute sir, my finger has found clip to release the hose" she answered, grunting as she stretched further and then gave a bark of satisfaction, a sound of something pinging in the engine block and a hose flapped down.

"Good job, I caught the clip" Jack laughed "Gods, you have your Tad's lovely thin fingers."

"And her Dad's lovely arse" Ianto said, Jack laughing softly as he turned to watch Ianto slide around the side of the vehicle and look into the engine, "Looks workable."

"Solenoid swapped out, battery charged and the leaky radiator hose is about to be swapped out as well" Jack grinned, "This will be perfect For Anny to drive into the town. Fits with all the other farm vehicles around the place better that our flash SUVs."

"I want to go too, I don't like her on her own" Kara said, ready to battle her Tad but he nodded.

"I was thinking about that too Sweet Pea, if you tuck your hair up and west some of my clothes you could pass for her boyfriend, a hood worn up and a cap. Don't get out. Have her call out to you like you are her man waiting impatiently. Less likely to be hit on or looked at with interest as it will show her taken. Soonest forgotten"

"Sexist pigs the lot of you" she frowned, then grinned that disarming Harkness one that always made her Tad grimace. This time, for the first time he grinned back.

Jack made pig grunting noises as he slapped at her and she laughed, slapping back. They looked like brother and sister, so much alike and Ianto saw the natural affection. He knew in that moment he had lost her. She was a Harkness. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Right, Rhys is sorting lunch and then I think we kick this engine over" Ianto said as he shook himself and picked up a cloth from the counter for his daughter who snorted with an eye roll as she waltzed over to a bucket of water and dunked her head in, then flicked her shoulder length hair back with a whoop.

Jack stood beside Ianto and smiled "You did a good job there Yan. She's fantastic."

"She's you with a touch of Welsh bastard." He replied, gaining a laugh as a hand slid around the small of his back, his look of surprise not lost on Jack.

"After all this time, you begrudge me a little public display?" Jack whispered, "Who can see. Tell me? Who will judge if I want to grab your arse. Love your arse, so grabby."

"That is barely even a word" Ianto frowned as he leaned against him, letting him grope a little and Jack breathed him in.

"You always argue semantics" Jack replied, his hand cupping a lovely arse cheek and squeezing, "But you know you like it, really."

Ianto sniggered, "Getting felt up by a dirty old man."

"Sez a dirty old man" Jack whispered, his kiss against Ianto's earlobe unexpected and Ianto smiled as he turned to him.

"Hey."

"Hey"

Kara watched them and then asked, "Why did you break up? I mean...why?"

Ianto looked at Jack like a deer caught in the headlights and Jack looked over his shoulder at their daughter, dripping water and looking like a goddess.

"When your job is to save the world it comes at a price love" Jack replied, "To give others a life sometimes you have to sacrifice your own, even if you still breathe afterwards. Your Tad knew how dangerous my life is, he didn't want that for you. More fool him aye? Might as well tell you not to breathe as not be my heathen child."

"How did it work? I mean, Tad is a man." She asked the one Ianto didn't want and his face showed it.

"Well, in the future with genetic engineering men can fall pregnant. We also swap foetuses so that the partner with the more nurturing nature or strongest chance carries the child. It's not just sperm but the egg as well passed over, small and unnoticed. I didn't know, he didn't know. Oops. One big wonderful impossible oops. Here you are. Here we are. Three impossible things before lunch. I would say before breakfast but everything seems impossible then, only your Taddy's coffee to save me."

"Taddy, how did you do it? I mean not a lot of preggers men about" she asked, leaning back against the bumper of the truck, "Who helped you?"

"Archie helped get me here, Warehouse folk helped hide me and you. It was not easy, I was not the most sane or logical pregnant person either, those hormone jags were horrible. I was so scared when it was time and you were so small. Angry and tiny. Gods, I saw Jack in you even then. Miracle Day was terrifying, I was too scared to head for the Warehouse, the chaos on the streets and you o little. I went to Unit, where I thought I would never go and found Her Majesty had a firm hand on them this side of the ditch."

"You must have been so scared" she whispered, "Nobody able to die."

His eyes slid to Jack as the two men had a silent conversation and she frowned, "Right?"

"Don't be silly" Anwen said from the doorway of the shed, as her mother came out of her mouth, "The Captain is immortal, during Miracle Day he was mortal ya Muppet."

Ianto slowly turned to look at his daughter as she stared at him hard. Edidic memory. Shit.

"And you were hurt too, your forehead. I remember you cradling me as you sat at a meeting. You had a mark on your head for ages" her eyes widened as she finally got it, "Tad? Were you mortal too?"


	23. get your head in the game

Kara considered things as she drove Anwen to the store, glancing over as Anwen tucked her hair behind her ear and tried to look less excited then she felt. Kara wore her Tad's jeans and one of Fergus' hoodies with the hood up. The cap covering her hair and the hoodie over top made her almost invisible in the dark cab of the old truck. She felt so alive, so real. Her Tad's whispered affection and admission he was proud of her filling her with moxie, her grin hard to control.

"My Tad is immortal like the Captain" she blurted out and Anwen turned to gape.

"Bullshit!"

"I remember him hurt during Miracle Day" she nodded, "Gods. Why did it never occur to me before. That's why he was scared and went into hiding in the Unit compound. He was mortal. Like the Captain."

"So...that de-aging thing was not something the Captain did like healing salts he said he used?" Anwen asked, Kara struggling not to laugh at the weird reasoning.

"No Anny. The Captain didn't give him a special healing powder. He gave him me." She giggled. "He's my Dad."

"Shit. That why they are all....weird with each other?"

"I think..." Kara considered, "I think the Captain had been off world for a very long time, trying to forget Tad and came back. He thought Taddy was dead and wherever he's been it was for a long time. He thought he was over Taddy but clearly not, given the way he touches him all the time. The weird thing is that Taddy doesn't let people touch him, other than me. Always been standoffish, ya know? It's strange to see someone touching him without him pulling away."

"So he still has feelings for him then" Anwen nodded, "Both of them?"

"Yeah" Kara sighed, "Both idiots."

"Sometimes I wonder of me Mam ever loved Dad. I mean, he is lovable but she's not...well...affectionate" Anwen said after a while, "It's like she settled for him, ya know?"

"The way she looks at the Captain, do you blame her?" Kara snorted, "A perfect mix of suave, sex and bastardry. Mind, to get Tad's attention he must be super sweet sometimes too."

"Is he?"

"Yeah" Kara grinned, "I watch them, the way they move around each other and I see it. He has this way of touching Tad so it seems like Tad is reaching out? Like, he's trying to give him the upper ground?"

"Your Tad is a proud man" Anwen nodded, "To have protected such secrets, worked with Mam and the Captain he must have been covert. I guess he needs to keep what little high ground he has."

"You know Anwen, when we first met I thought you were like your Mam. Touch and cool, slightly sharp around the edges. I saw the woman in you that the Captain admires so. But you know, I see your Tad now as well and I like you better for it" Kara said softly, surprising her friend. "Your Tad is warm, where she is cold. Soft where she is sharp and where she is smooth he is fuzzy. They work together. Compliment each other. No, I think she loves him deeply. I think maybe she wondered what it is he sees in her not the other way around. I think he has forgiven things, overlooked things and blatantly defied things. We make a good team you and me. Our parents' best bits with that spark of something that annoys the heck out of them."

Anwen laughed as she leaned back, used to her friend doing most of the talking. She liked the sound of her voice, so melodic and sometimes her accent slipped and she heard the Welsh lit to it like her own family.

"How lonely" she said suddenly, "Your Tad. How lonely, not loving another."

"No, he loved me" Kara corrected, "I know now he saw the Captain in me as much as himself. Why he calls me Cariad, like him. Why he rolls his eyes at me and calls me a mad American-ish Twat. I've heard him call the Captain that twice so far."

"I want that" Anwen sighed, "I like Fergus, even sometimes think it is the beginning of something but then I get so annoyed with him breathing. Ya know?"

Kara giggled and slapped at her, "Get your head in the game nutta, we're here."

Anwen pulled her jacket closed the zipped it up as Kara touched her ear, "Tadda? We're here."

"OK Sweet Pea, remember the plan, don't deviate" Ianto's' voice was soft without any formal order to the words as he knew she would stay on task. She knew it was so Anwen heard it as well and she sat drumming her fingers on the wheel as Anwen turned at the grill to blow a kiss.

"Be out in five lover" she chortled as Kara revisited the urge to flip her the bird.

Be cool Kara Girl.

Be super cool.

Be gold.

* * *

 


	24. I'll be back

Jack watched Ianto as he listened intently to the coms, his mouth pressed together in that way it always did when Tosh was on retrieval and he remembered her. Tosh.

It had been so long and at first the memory of her was hazy but it became clearer, more defined as he recalled the two of them sitting together on that old sofa in the Hub, Ianto so prim and proper with his tie nearly knotted, his legs crossed to show inappropriate socks. His only show of naughtiness some days and the files on the coffee table as they worked through tech files to close.

She was small, petite and like a wee china doll. Well, a Japanese one anyway. Her hair shone. Jack remembered that she smelt of jasmine and liked the colour blue even though she never really wore a lot of bold colour. He leaned back as her laugh echoed in his mind, the memory of Ianto dancing her around the Hub, lifting her off her feet and kissing her cheek as the New Year was counted down.

Toshiko.

Ianto looked over at him and raised an eyebrow but Jack could only smile softly, not able to say her name out loud as the horror of having even forgotten her made him feel almost sick. So many lost, gods.

"They're on their way back" Ianto slumped, "Got everything they need and that girl of yours Gwen, what a spitfire."

"Thank you Ianto, you did a fine job with Kara" Gwen smiled, "She is so self aware."

"Comes from good stock" Jack sniffed and Ianto rolled his eyes as he reached for the list to match the one the girls had worked for at the four different stores. All the lists for random things hidden within other random things but when all combined could make life very ...interesting.

Rex wasn't sure how to feel about Ianto, the man kept changing. He thought he had a handle on him, then boom another aspect. He was a bloody enigma.

"I like it here" Gwen suddenly broke the silence "Can we stay? Even if just a few days?"

"Yeah" Jack sighed, "I'm stuffed. Let's wait a few days, then move. If we run now it might be noticed. Besides, I don't know if I have the energy to leave again, pack all that shit our daughter has strewn about marking her territory like a bloody cat spraying."

"When they get back we will set up the booby traps and perimeter alarms" Ianto said as he leaned over a bag of ignition caps from the shed that he had found and laughed softly at. Seems the uncle liked fishing with dynamite, "Get some bang for our bucks."

"I love when you talk dirty" Jack purred softly, Ianto pausing to grin at him before resuming his work.

"So, let me get this straight. You row out to the middle of the lake and light a fuse toss it over and the boom from the explosion stuns the fish." Rex asked.

"And they float to the surface for you to simply scoop up" Jack nodded, "Illegal of course."

"All the good shit is" Rex huffed with interest.

The girls returned and watched Ianto and Jack working together like machines, turning some of their purchases into working bombs.

"OK" Anwen whispered to Kara as Ianto opened a bag of nails with his teeth, "Remember that old movie, Terminator? Which is the Terminator and which is Sarah Connor?"

"Tad is Sarah obviously, I am John Connor" Kara said with a snide sneer, "You are simply cannon fodder."

"Bitch" Anwen giggled.

"Inferior human" Kara replied, both girl collapsing into a giggling heap as Gwen looked over at them.

"What the hell is so funny?" she demanded, her leather jacket and thigh high boots making them giggle some more.

"It's OK Gwen" Ianto said without looking up from the blast cap he was carefully fitting to the pipe, "I see everything."

"And I will definitely be back" Jack agreed with a slight Arnie accent that had the girls howling with mirth.

Rex frowned as he remembered the movie they were making fun of, "Hang on. The black dude dies in the second one. Miles?"

"Yeah, but he goes with a bang" Ianto looked up and grinned maniacally at Rex, "Jack has already been blown to smithereens, maybe it's your turn Miles."

Rex went to tell Ianto to fuck off but was giggling as well, the playful mood lightening the room as Ianto placed another handmade grenade into the stack of doom.

Jack counted in his head and knew they had more than enough to create some elaborate man traps about the place. Nothing was gonna sneak up on them for the next few days while they regrouped. He glanced at Ianto and hoped it would also be a time of renewal.

As if hearing his thought Ianto looked up at him and smiled softly, then dropped his head again as Jack saw promise in the gaze.

Yep.

Definitely reconnecting.

Jack hoped it would be soon or he would have to throw himself in the icy lake like the kids.

His balls were aching.

/

/

now you have caught up to me so behave and maybe I can get ahead of you again LOL


	25. life is butt a dream?

Jack found Ianto staring out over the water with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Hey, you seem to be doing a lot of this" Jack said softly so as not to startle him and then kicked himself as he remembered he never could, "Seems like you are always out on this dock."

"I love the water" Ianto said without turning around, "Soothing to watch the ripples."

"You feel like you need soothing?"

Ianto turned to face him and smiled softly, "So much turmoil? Yeah? No, I mean...to think that something small, one little thing made all that wake, disturbance. Ripples. I like the idea. Ripples move through different fabrics."

"Like time" Jack got it and grinned, "You and I had hanky panky and a ripple effect started that all this time later brought us to the shore of this wonderful alternative life."

"Mine began at Canary Warf, yours on that Game Station, our ripples met and created a new set called Karaline" Ianto leaned into him, accepting his embrace and Jack buried his face in Ianto's hair as he breathed him in.

"I still can't get enough of you." Jack groaned softly.

"That boat, it's not small, not big. It's, what ... a 12 footer, right?" Ianto asked eyeballing the skiff tied to the warf, "Those fishing nets look quite comfortable."

"Hmmmm?"

"Jack?"

"Hmmmmm?"

"Row my boat down your stream and let's dream together" Ianto whispered softly, now fully in Jack's grasp and Jack snorted softly as he was once again ensnared in Ianto's.

"Where do you want to go lover?"

"Anywhere. Middle of the lake so you can fuck me in broad daylight without our daughter seeing?" Ianto said dreamily as if discussing the weather and Jack's dick was instantly on board with the idea.

"Jesus, no foreplay? What happened to those lashes, blushes and innuendos?" Jack sputtered, slightly shocked and immensely excited.

"Another day, today I want you balls deep with those balls slapping my arse. Come on, that net looks more comfortable by the second and I am starting to itch for you" Ianto was already clambering in and Jack started ot laugh as he followed, amazed at how easily Ianto could lead him and still make him feel like he was in charge.

Gods, he had missed this man.

Soon the anchor was weighed and they were naked, hands sliding over flesh and that breathy moan Jack remembered in almost every sexual encounter was there. Not a ghostly sound now. Back where it belonged in his ear. Ah, Gods. Jack bit down on Ianto's ear lobe gently so he wouldn't show his silly emotions by raising his face but as he slid home Ianto gave that guttural cry that always spurred him on and he drew back to look down at the man who held him body and soul.

Ianto was weeping too.

_Stupid twats weeping like teenagers, huh?_

Jack kissed Ianto gently, tasting the coffee that had been abandoned on the dock and that spicy undertone that was so hot and so damned sexy, hands sliding up his spine in that way that was almost teasing. "Ianto, gods love, stop that."

Ianto's reply was a snort and fingernails.

_Bastard._

Jack adjusted his grip and soon Ianto had his wish, the sound of flesh striking making small ripples. Ianto let his head fall back, exposing his throat and Jack licked a bead of moisture there with glee.

_Gods he even tasted like chocolate._

Jack closed his eyes as well, both men blissing out as they convulsed and grunted under the afternoon sun.

.

.

.

.

Is that your olds?" Anwen was holding a hand over her eyes as she peered across the lake and Kara turned to follow her gaze.

"I think so, what are they doing?" she sighed.

"Nookie" Anwen giggled, "I think that's your Dad's arse flashing. Oh god! They're ...."

Both girls shrieked with fake horror as it all became clear and then they folded over each other on the swing seat, choking with laughter at the thought of the two sexy men.

"So hard to think of them as my parents when they look so..."

"Fuckable?"

"Young. Ew. Weirdo, they're my parents." Kara giggled. "Gross!"

"Your Dad's washboards want to exfoliate my face" Anwen teased, "and your Tad? That arse? God, did you see the two of them lean over that crate before? Those arses? I never knew I was a Butt Girl but there ya go. Fuck I wanted to slap them and see them jiggle. Lovely taught buns."

"I will drag you by your hair down past Taddy's cup and hold you under bitch" Kara snarled and Anwen laughed heartily as she took up a fighter's stance.

"Come on bitch!" she sneered and soon the two were rolling in the autumn leaved as they wrestled, their combined giggling and squealing making it more than interesting for Fergus to watch as he ate his packet of crisps slowly, dropping some on himself without even noticing.

Mad mares.


	26. Hunting Wabbit

Snow.

Ianto had settled in the bed and had been wondering what was unnerving him so only to realize it had started to snow.

There had been some good natured ribbing and giggling at the evening meal and Ianto had blushed as Jack thought he would but he was both surprised and pleased to see Ianto also holding his head high as he told everyone that they needn't rock the boat, gaining laughter as he looked over at Jack with open affection.

_Gods he is gorgeous._

Kara entered and slid into the bed, her hands sliding around her Taddy to find his shirt opening for her hands. Even now she sought her teddy bear and like when a small girl she also sought that heart. Jack had been drifting and opened his eyes as her hands slid between them and Ianto grunted softly as he moved to let her in.

"You OK poppet?" Jack whispered.

"Gwen has been on the secure. Apparently there has been a sighting of John Hart two towns over. He's sniffing around and close. The men we assigned are watching and I am worried that their covert is not like your covert" she whispered back.

"Hush" Ianto slurred, "Sleep spawn of the devil."

"Oi!" Jack hissed and Ianto grunted again. "Leave my perfect angel child alone."

She giggled as Ianto moved in the bed. "Sorry, forgot you were there too."

"Wait, are you calling me the devil you Welsh vixen?" Jack asked with amusement growing then he registered Kara's words, "Wait. John is close? How close."

"I told you, two townships away" she said as she settled in and Jack now watched as Ianto's eyes rolled open and stared back at him in the bed, both men thinking the same thing as they slid out, their daughter rolling into the warm spot they left behind.

"What's up?" Rex asked, looking up from the weapon he had in pieces on the floor.

"Going on a Hart Hunt" Jack said as he started to look through the weapons spread out and Ianto crouched to choose a small side arm, hefting it to gauge the weight. Then he rose and continued to strap his blade to his wrist.

"Can I come?" Rex asked, like a kid asking to come to the shops for a lolly and both men nodded silently.

"What about us?" Gwen demanded and Ianto resisted the eye roll threatening, turning his back to her and making Jack know this was his problem not Ianto's with an eyebrow raised in his direction.

"You have to guard the kids" Jack said firmly, "Us three have a wee job to do and I need someone I can trust stay here and do the hard yards protecting everyone here."

As they walked out to the SUV Ianto muttered "Nice handling there."

"I'm getting there" Jack replied softly.

They drove as Rex worked in the back seat, reminding Ianto of Toshiko in a weird way that he couldn't quite explain, finding it also weirdly comforting. Ianto leaned back as the snow continued to fall and his temper continued to rise.

John Hart.

Ianto drummed his fingers on the edge of the seat as he went through different scenarios and he knew Jack was watching him covertly so he sighed and turned, as Jack knew he would and laid out his thoughts on the matter.

He and Jack spoke as they always did when alone, their thoughts, fears and even silly random thoughts aired as they organised their minds into one cohesive thought, Rex sitting silently in the back with growing excitement as he listened to what would be an epic thing to watch. He did hope that he wouldn't be told to mind the car like a bloody faithful dog.

Jack had waxed lyrical about this man and Rex had thought it was just a broken heart making Jack remember him as some sort of demigod but now he had met him spent time with him, he saw that he was a strange enigma who was clearly capable of keeping Jack interested and in check.

The more time he spent around Ianto the more comfortable he got. For his silent, broody way he was also not someone who gave off a vibe of superiority, looking at Rex as a human being. Rex thought with a start that it probably hadn't even crossed Ianto's' mind that he was black. It didn't matter. He saw Rex as someone Jack had chosen as their friend and had simply accepted him as that.

Also Rex had watched him earlier today with the weapons as Gwen had surprised him by stepping back and giving Ianto the space he needed to move freely about the outside table they had set up.

The reason he had been sitting with a broken down weapon when Ianto and Jack had emerged from the bedroom was because he still couldn't work out how Ianto had done it so dammed efficiently with even Jack admitting defeat.

Now he sat with the same weapon in his lap, watching the night move around them and in his minds eye he saw Ianto as Jack's shadow, more powerful an image that the bloody coat.

For some reason he knew Ianto and Jack striding in would cause glorious chaos.


	27. baited trap

The snow now falls harder, although the pace seems lazy. The world is turning white even as the night is trying to swallow it whole.

Dressed in a fresh black suit, shirt and tie, Ianto strides through the kitchen of the hotel, ignored by the bustling staff. Even as Jack walks in the front door like he owns the place.

There would be no running.

Not tonight.

Rex was been torn with whom to follow and after a moment's thought he decided to go with Jack, better the devil ya now.

Jack enters the ball room, and makes his way to the back where a small staircase leads downward. Jack walks down them as Rex follows. Ianto appears from nowhere and Rex starts with the shock even though Jack does not and Rex sees that Ianto moves like a fucking wraith.

Walking down the long, brick-enclosed corridor... ...stopping before a large, thick, imposing Iron Door, Jack removes a strange purple coin from his pocket... ...and slips it into a slit -similar to that of a pay phone- to the right of the door.

A beat... ...and a section of the door slides open, revealing a pair of judging eyes. This is the Gatekeeper, Green beard, shaven head, pierced, tattooed, blue skin, three piece suit- intimidating as hell. He studies Jack for a long moment. "I don't know you."

"Maybe not... but I know this place." Jack replies calmly and after a beat the Gatekeeper slides the view piece shut. A beat... and the door is unlocked, swinging open. Jack enters, and the door is immediately swung shut behind, sealed and locked tight.

Ianto steps in front of the door and crosses his hands like he is now the Gatekeeper and there is a moment of pause as the man notices the solemn man that has slid in on Jack's Coat Tails. They stare at one another and then the Gatekeeper turns away as he recognises the man is not a threat to him.

Rex sat in the waiting chair outside the door was a sense of foreboding. He moves his hand to his watch and starts the timer. They are a go.

The room Jack is now standing in is small, but comfortable. To the right are a number of coat/hat racks populated by a dozen or so items. To the left is a bank of modified cigar locker; dozens of transparent, safety-deposit boxes framed in mahogany with a plaque -etched with a name- upon each. Gatekeeper hands the coin back to Jack. "You carryin'?"

"No." Jack replies.

" You gotta' name?"

"Captain Jack Harkness"

Gatekeeper recognizes this name, his demeanour changing drastically. Gatekeeper turns, Jack enters the next room through a pair of velvet drapes... ...and pauses, taking it all in with a smile. A luxurious tavern crafted from a long forgotten speak-easy, the room isn't too big, and isn't too small, but... just right. Booths line the outside walls while a number of tables are scattered about. Near the stage, a small dance floor has been cleared, the wooden tiles worn, but lovingly cared for.

On stage, Emile -80s, black, petite, a commanding presence- sways behind the microphone, singing an old standard, her voice similar to that of Billie Holiday; strong, tender, and sincere. Her eyes grow wide at the sight of Jack, but she never wavers from her tune. As Jack makes his way through the room, everyone nodes, offers a handshake, or a simple greeting: this is an old family... of a sort. In the corner, Winston -70s, English, tall, lean, well-dressed, glasses, tailored, precise- sits with a worn, paperback copy of THE TELL-TALE SHREW in one hand and a dry sherry in the other.

"Hello, Winston."

Winston lowers the book, and glances across at Jack with a blank -yet warm- look. "Hello, Captain."

After a moment's silence as his eyes slide to the dark suited man who stands in the shadows like some angel of death "It's been awhile."

"That, it has." Jack agrees looking around "I'm glad to see the old place still up and running."

"I could say the same for you." Winston says calmly and his eyes slide again to the unnerving young man with the angelic face.

Jack approaches the bar... ...where Jimmy -40s, Welsh, three-piece suit, expensive watch, kind eyes, quick to smile- looks up with a grin.

Five pictures of Jack are inconspicuously taken... ...by Lance -late twenties, cockney, expensive tastes, lean, cruel- at a table across the way. Lance sends them with a text: "Is this him?" A beat... and he receives a text in return: "Yes. Where are you?" Lance texts back: "The Continental." A beat... and he receives a text: "We may not engage in hostilities upon those premises." Lance texts back: "I'm willing to take the risk." A beat... and he receives a follow up text: "Take him alive. Should you fail, we disavow. Should you succeed, we reward... greatly." Lance smiles...

...as does Ianto in the shadows.

Once the song is done, Emile is met with boisterous applause... ...with Jack clapping the hardest among them.

Ianto slides from the room as Winston shivers in his seat.

.

.

.

.

John nods, takes a sip of his coffee as he slides his phone into his pocket, and stands. "Goodbye, Jack"

John leaves the diner across the street, and slides into a limousine where four of his men wait, each armed with a silenced, submachine gun: intimidating hardware. John closes the door, takes a deep breath, and sighs, rubbing his brow.

BOOM!

A round slams into his window, barely missing him before hitting the man seated next to him in the side of the head, blood spattering against glass. John dives to the floor as his men prepare to return fire Ianto is a crack-shot, firing as he strides towards the vehicle-killing two men and wounding a fourth who drops down next to John, screaming.

"DRIVE!" John screams to the driver with horror as he watched this apparition approach, his mouth open like he is about to eat him alive.

Ianto ejects a spent clip, slaps in a fresh one in a blink, and unloads into the limousine which jerks forward, tires squealing as it drives off.

John lies on his back, staring at the ceiling as he lights himself a cigarette and pulls back his sleeve to engage the VM. "Well, someone doesn't know how to politely turn down an invitation to come play do they?"

Ianto slips the gun into the back of his pants, turns, and calmly walks away.

Rex stands awestruck as Jack slides behind him, pats his shoulder and they all slip back into the shadows.

Message delivered.


	28. sulky

They were half an hour from the Mill House when Jack's VM chimed and he pulled into a lay-by to open it.

John's voice was mockingly gleeful, "Well now lover. That was fun."

They all leaned forward as the little hologram placed its hands on its hips and pouted, "Seriously. I come all this way for a get together and some old fashioned fun and you are all loved up and not the least bit needy. What in the great galaxies! Well, I can take a hint. See you around the nexus lover."

As the little hologram blew a kiss Jack sighed and reached out to close it but Ianto made a small noise, making Jack pause as the hologram didn't go away.

"Just tell me who he is" John said softly, "I've never known you not to share. He is so...big. Jax? Is he big? I bet he is."

John's laugher closed out the message and they all sat in the silence, then Ianto started to snigger.

"Cocky wee bastard is jealous" Ianto chortled and Jack smiled.

"Blame him? Gods, you are mine and I still lust for you" Jack pulled back onto the road and headed for home confident that John meant it. When playing they never used their real names and Johnty did look amused, not pissed.

They pulled up at the back door and Ianto slid out first, adjusting his attire and then stalking off into the dark.

"Jesus" Rex finally spoke, "If I were not someone who knew he was a nice guy I would be fucking terrified of what I saw tonight."

"Knowing him means nothing" Jack replied as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "After all, you know me and what I am capable of. Ianto? Can cut a throat and not get a speck of blood on himself. Masterful."

Rex blinked as he watched Jack follow his mate and he considered the calculating way Ianto had stalked the vehicle, had known where John was and realised it had all been a set up. Jack had been bait. Ianto had been listening on coms....really?

He entered to find Ianto making hot chocolate as Jack sat toeing off his boots, "Tell me something."

"The earth is not round, rather egg shaped" Ianto said and Rex blinked.

"Well, sort of" Jack agreed.

"Great, a double team" Rex snorted and chose a seat, "You were on coms tonight, right?"

"We had a couple of men watching and waiting, monitoring the cell signals and helping us find John. We figured he would be there tonight, this little dive somewhere a lot of the underworld go." Ianto answered and Rex watched Jack.

"And the man with the weird blue skin?"

"A Laraguette" Jack said calmly, "From three systems over. They like the British weather. Earth gravity is similar and they have a thing for your women."

Rex stared for a while, "An Alien. So, green hair and blue skin is alien?"

"This is not X-Men, he's not a mutant" Ianto scolded softly as he placed a cup down for either man, "Aliens are real. You know this now."

"Yeah, but most seem so...human. It still startles me to see one that looks like a Halloween costume" he replied as Ianto retrieved his own cup and sat primly next to Jack.

"What are you thinking?" Jack asked without looking up from his cup.

"The Raven said 'no more' is what springs to mind" Rex replied, "Ianto is like the fucking grim reaper."

"Damn, I knew I could have brought my sickle Cariad" Ianto pouted theatrically as he leaned against him and Jack laughed.

"Taddy?"

Kara was standing there cuddling her pillow with her long lean legs naked and Ianto immediately made a noise as he rose to usher her onto the sofa and pull the blanket around her from the back of it, "Why are you awake?"

"I don't have my Teddy"

"I will be along love, here finish my chocy" he said lovingly and she excitedly accepted the cup and hummed softly.

Jack froze.

Ianto's hum coming from his daughter sounded so sweet and he knew he was grinning as he watched her lick her lips when she got some froth. He knew Ianto had gone to warm the bed and the thought was also sweet, making him rise and hold his hand out for the now empty cup, "Give it here love, go cuddle Tad. I'll be in once I get these in the sink with some water in them so soak. He hates rings."

"Some" she said as she rose, "He used to wear a signet ring but lost it. A dragon."

"Really?" Jack asked softly as he wondered about another sort of ring.

Better late than never right? Make an honest man of him?

Jack entered the bedroom to find the two entwined like lovers and he slid in to cuddle from behind, the classic spoon. Jack loved cuddling into Ianto and feeling him gently rock to allow him to get closer.

"I love you" Jack whispered and Ianto hummed.

Jack was drifting and the breath on his cheek as Ianto rolled and pulled him in was all he ever wanted to hear, "I know you do. I love you too son of a whore."

Jack was sure his grin would light up the room as he finally let sleep take him.


	29. oops' can be cool

"Are you sure?" Gwen asked for the third time as Rhys rolled his eyes.

"Yes, John was honest in his acceptance of the rebuff" Jack answered, "We can all relax. Take this as the holiday is appears to be. I wanna go fishing, I wanna hire a speed boat and try some speed on that water."

"Oooooh" Kara squealed, "Water skiing, I love speed!"

"Now you know why" Ianto smiled softly as he watched father and daughter gush.

"Well I think we should get back" Gwen huffed, Rhys rolling his eyes some more behind his wife's back as they all tried not to react to it.

"Well you go them Mama" Anwen said calmly, "We can all do without the adult supervision, just Kara's Tad will do."

Jack looked around then realised he was being included in the children needing the supervision and he sniggered as he looked at Ianto, "what do you say. Gonna spank me if I'm bad coz I can be like super bad sometimes."

"Ew" Kara grimaced as they all laughed but her eyes were dancing with mirth.

"Well, if the kids don't need to be back I guess the rest of the week might be nice" Ianto sighed as he thought of the mess he had to go back to and Jack caught it.

"Your house"

"Yeah, I don't know it it's worth fixing or just bulldozing" Ianto grimaced, "Maybe best to find somewhere else. Kara is grown now, doesn't need the big yard or anything. I just liked the studio there. It's trashed now."

"Well she's militarial now, only a room for her to visit on furlough needed love" Jack agreed, "What would you like? I see you in an old lake house similar to this one with a dog and nice gardens, sitting on the dock fishing while wondering what time I will be home from the meeting I left for or whatever."

"Oh do you!" Ianto huffed, "Moving in are you?"

Jack shrugged as he looked away, his intent clear as Ianto considered the comment and found it appealing.

"I'll need a boat house" he said after a while, "Your souped up piece of speedy shit underneath a wee studio or something for me. The house back up the rise where it won't flood and I would need to pick the dog...and its name. Never letting you name anything."

Jack fake pouted as he bemoaned his artistic flare being squashed but they all saw the glee in both men as they calmly agreed to live together.

"Here?" Fergus asked after a while, "A few properties around the head for sale."

Jack roared with mirth as Ianto sighed and looked at Fergus, "Never offer him anything with head involved."

"What do you think? Wanna go look?" Jack snorted.

"Boathouse and overhead...stop it....room for my studio" Ianto said as he slapped at Jack without looking in his direction, "What is there?"

"I'll go check it out and get back to you" Fergus said as he rose and Anwen followed him, off on their little mission.

"You are really going to do this. Just like that? Mister three options for the evening meal?" Kara asked with surprise as she looked at her Tad.

"Yes" Ianto said calmly, "Baby, a lot of that was boredom. With Jack I am never bored, not one to dither. We are really doing this. I like that dog he's dangling there."

Jack laughed softly as he settled back and watched his daughter try to look pleased for them, her confusion clear and when she went outside he followed her.

"Hey sweetheart, what is it? Think it's too fast?" Jack asked gently, "Or we are too old? Look at us, in our prime all over again."

"I guess it's just weird. Tad was always so set in his ways. It's weird to see him just throwing caution to the wind" she shrugged.

"Ianto likes order, he likes things orderly. Always has. We have known each other for so long, this is not a big thing for him. He can find a pace with me that works, he always did. You never knew the man I did. This old foggey routine is something he's stuck in I'm just waking him up" he assured her, "He's still going to insist on napkins and place mats, I will make him insane cleaning the guns on the kitchen table with newspaper laid out, he hates newsprint and he will complain constantly about the Great Coat needing attention but you and I both know he will love it."

"But it's so remote" she said as she looked around, "Less people, less noise oh. I see what you mean. Simple."

"I once spent thirty years in the mountains with a woman I loved, we raised two strapping boys and it was wonderful. A death put paid to that" Jack sighed, leaning back, "First reset and I could never go home. Fell off a bluff, how stupid was that. My boys grew up married, times changed. No idea where they are now."

"Isn't that messing with timelines or whatever, sewing your wild oats back here?" she asked.

"We all do" Jack shrugged, "The Time Agency frowns on it but it still happens. What can I say love, oops?"

She snorted as she realised he was pointing at her and then she laughed softly.

Thank the stars for the occasional oops.


	30. finding the nest

The house was perfect, not just overlooking the water but jutting out over it on stilts so the boat could actually tie up at the back door. The two rooms overlooking the bay were perfect too, both large and airy so one could be for living and the other a studio. Ianto was in love as he stood looking out.

"Imagining a stormy night?" Jack guessed and Ianto swing with a grin.

"I will watch you coming around those trees and into here, sheltered from any storm. We can have a sofa right here or...oh." Ianto stalled.

"Babe?"

"A bed. A day bed. Imagine making love in the moonlight, is that too silly?" Ianto gushed, "after all it's just us most of the time, right?"

"Ianto, I love that idea" Jack said with growing delight as he stepped to the huge bay windows and looked down at the water moving gently below them, "When we have company we can use the bedroom like civilised people."

Ianto hummed happily as he left the room and went searching the attic space, finding to his delight that it was also bight and full of light, "Cariad, I can make this my studio up here. Then we can have the side room for our bedroom full time. The back one can be for guests, the one across from it can be Kara's."

"Oh? She actually sleep in a bed on her own?" Jack asked, "I was wondering how she will survive without you. Will you snap-lock your PJs and post to her?"

"Stop it!" Ianto laughed, "She is quite capable of sleeping on her own, I think she is just watching you for some reason. I don't know if she is trying to protect me or get close to you."

Jack hadn't considered that and found it sweet, saying so as he sat at the rickety table that had been left in the house.

"I love all these shelves, nooks and crannies" Ianto said as his fingers explored, "Wee drawers, hidden places we can pop some weaponry."

Jack snorted softly, trust his beloved to be thinking of security. Good man, this one.

"We need to go back and see what we can salvage, then see where it will all fit, what we still need" Jack suggested and Ianto hummed as he reached up and stretched to touch the expose drafters, the deep wood stain stark against the white plaster.

Do you really love it?" Jack asked as he looked again at the stained glass along the tops of the windows.

"Yes!" Ianto said firmly, "I do."

"TAD"

"Up here pumpkin" he called down the stairs and she shot up to look around with interest.

"Wow, perfect studio space Tad" she said as she looked around "This the one?"

"Yes, I was just telling Jack, I think this one is perfect. We will go home...the old home to salvage and pack. Then back here." He said and she looked back down the stairs.

"And me?"

"Chose which room you want love, there are two bedrooms back there." Ianto waved a hand towards the back of the house, "I want me a bohemian boudoir in the front room to the left, the smaller one that connects to the kitchen...Cariad, can we knock that wall down so that living room and kitchen can be open plan?"

"Hang on" Jack said as he came thumping up the stairs and he stood looking at the ceiling and the slant of the large beams, "Yeah. The outer walls are load bearing so the walls don't hold up the place, we can move what you want. I like the idea of opening it all up, out wee bedroom nestled over the water. This could work"

"I want a new sofa, the one that took the blast was not going to be salvageable. Maybe something softer. Lots of cushions for reading in the afternoons." Ianto was stalking about with open excitement as Kara watched and she felt so happy for him, for them.

"When do we go?"

"End of the week, two more days" Ianto promised, "The clean up crew will have the place well sealed and cleaned for us. You know I will have a cow otherwise."

"Such a weird term that, having a cow" she laughed "Where did that come from?"

"A TV Show called The Simpsons that used to be on" Jack laughed as he wandered from the room, "It's still used."

"I am hungry Taddy" Kara suddenly said and Ianto exploded from the house with a look of horror, coming back from the SUV with a chiller that he placed on the table.

"LUNCH CARAID!"

They sat and enjoyed sandwiches and cold turkey as the world seemed to slow to a crawl, Ianto producing a flask.

Jack chewed and watched Ianto shine as he looked around the room no doubt imagining the things they would do here to make it home.

Jack intended to give him everything.


	31. interuption to domestibility

They head back into town to pack what was salvageable and Kara is humming happily. Ianto had run her and Jack to the compound to get their cars and the Jeep was appealing to Jack as he crowed and told her it was a keeper for sure. He definitely felt silly in the 'old man' Jaguar. He wonders if he should get a jeep as well, Ianto heading off with a snort.

The father and daughter are cruising happily towards home where Ianto was meeting them, his own stop at the Mall for some 'things' meaning he was probably nesting, something Jack found sweet. Jack is currently on the phone with him asking if he found the silk sheet section yet, Ianto's clipped growl warning him that he might get a smack. They pass the store where Ianto's Austin Martin seems to wink at them in the carpark.

Jack is behind the wheel of the silver Jag. Kara driving her Jeep. Jack follows behind Kara, watch dogging. Humming with the latest pop on the radio. Kara comes to a red light. Pauses. Turns right onto a side street. Jack slows, pausing at the intersection.

A grey sedan passes Jack. Accelerating. Jack only gets one glimpse into the passing car. It's enough: Everyone inside is armed to the teeth. The sedan roars around the corner, cutting in front of Jack.

"Oh Shit." Jack snarls with horror "This is a hit this is a fucking hit!"

The grey sedan comes up behind Kara. Comes up fast. Rams her Jeep. Metal crumples. Meanwhile Jack frantically floors the pedal of his Jag, pops the clutch - And stalls out. He roars with anger. Flings open the door. Leaps out and runs forward, screaming "Kara, get out of there! "

Too late. Kara is already out of her vehicle, yelling "Hey, can't you fucking drive?"

Her eyes go wide with shock. The Hitmen burst from their car. Open up on full auto. Kara is almost cut down. She swings and leaps, flying backward over the hood of her Jeep. Sliding into the gutter and looking back at her father with horror as Jack roars her name again. Without missing a beat, the Hitmen turn -And open fire on Jack. He takes a running start. Clears the hood of his Jag in a single leap. Bullets hit the metal behind him. He lands, hard. Sucks the ground. Moving towards his daughter, as two hitmen move toward her, triggering automatic fire.

The kid is gonna be dead meat.

Or so it seems until, without warning Ianto charges into the intersection. Screaming bloody murder. He's got a gun in each fist, and both are blazing. One Hitman dies immediately: Dances like a puppet, racked by gunfire. Bullets go through him. Shatter the sedan's windshield. The second Hitman turns and opens up on Ianto. Too late. Ianto rolls behind a car. Bullets chase him. The Hitman swears. Turns, running for the sedan. He knows when a getaway is in order. Just one problem. He forgot about Jack. A screech of tires as Jack's Jag slews around the corner, laying rubber. Rockets toward the Hitman, pins him in its headlights -The Hitman screams as Jack ploughs through him -And crunches into the gray sedan. Shatters the Hitman between the two cars... And holy Christ, the guy's still alive. Pinned like a butterfly, legs broken... He raises his rifle, screaming. Jack dives flat on the front seat. The windshield erupts. The Hitman. Still pinned. Still screaming. He fires shot after shot into Jack's car. Ianto walks up behind him. Puts a bullet in his head. He stops screaming. Jack is still slumped on the front seat in a sea of broken glass. Ianto walks up, leans in the window.

Ianto's Austin Martin slowly rolls past, his driver's door still open from his hasty exit and he looks over as it calmly comes to a halt against the curb. Jack gasps to life and looks around blearily as Ianto strokes his cheek through the car window.

"Hey." Ianto says softly "Back up."

Jack puts it in reverse. The car backs up. Steam pouring from the crumpled hood. The Hitman, now freed, collapses to the street. Like a sack of flour. Ianto limps toward him, his bloody ankle had twisted when he ran from his car and he is only just starting to feel it. He stops as Kara stands outside her Jeep holding a pump action shotgun as a Hitman lies at her feet without most of his chest cavity.

Taddy raised his girl tight.

Ianto nods at the bodies in the street. "It's all over, Pumpkin."

He turns and looks at Jack. The man is seething, staring at Kara's bullet-riddled Jeep. Eyes glazed. Ianto says nothing. He crosses to the shattered Hitman. Kneels down, fishes through the guy's coat pockets.

Sirens fill the air. And Jack snaps out of it long enough to reach into his coat - Takes out his ID.

Police cruisers come squealing up, flashers turning. Surrounding Jack, who stands, head down and motionless -And Ianto, who stands and looks at the sky as his daughter starts to curse loudly, finally noticing her beloved Jeep is dead. Ianto pats his pockets for a smoke.

"Tiger, really? Those things are bad for you" Jack calls out and Ianto flips him the bird in a classic ode to Owen.


	32. aftermath

"So you don't think it was him?" Ianto asks as he steps from the SUV, waiting for Jack to walk around and defend John Hart some more.

"I am sure of it, he would have been the one firing the most" Jack defends, "Anyway, that wallet you pinched have a Averlaitan code card in it, I think this was aimed at me. They overshot and rear-ended Kara, idiots always are poor sighted in the bright sun."

"I just don't know why they would attack in broad daylight like that" Ianto sighs and Jack nods.

"They had been looking for me and John for a while, something we did that we probably shouldn't have. Let's just say the guards took some extra convincing" Jack leers, "Anyway, we sorted it."

"And the next lot?"

"Aw come one, I'm sure that was the only drama" Jack says confidently.

The two men approach the door. Ianto takes out his key ring and opens the door. Flips on the lights. Stops in his tracks. The room has been systematically torn to pieces. A knife has been used to rip open the couch. Broken furniture, shredded clothing. Everywhere. It looks like a combat zone.

"I think this is worse than we left it, right?" Jack asks with a frown.

"Well, shit." Ianto sighs, "Stay here a minute."

"Where you going?" Jack asks.

"Bathroom." Ianto snaps "You wanna come with me? I shouldn't lift anything heavy after such a taxing day."

Jack sniggers and looks around again "I'll reluctantly pass. They might be back."

Jack starts inspecting the wreckage.

Ianto enters his bathroom and shuts the door behind him. He scans the floor, covered with clothes, bottles, etc. Picks up a carelessly discarded can of deodorant. Turns it upside down, and unscrews the bottom. Inside, the can is hollow and empty. The perfect hiding place. Ianto heaves a sigh of relief. Removes a little plastic USB stick. Stashes it in his pocket. Starts to replace the lid. Stops. Frowns. Puts it in his pocket. Replaces the lid. Tosses the can on the floor. Flushes the toilet. Leaves.

Jack meanwhile, is prowling the living room, looking at photographs on the walls. The girl in the photos seems young, beautiful, and naive. One shot depicts Kara and a friend in cheerleader outfits. On it is scrawled, GOOD LUCK IN HOLLYWOOD BABY! LOVE, JAMIE Jack gazes around the devastated cottage.

Ianto emerges from the bathroom. "Find anything?"

"Yeah, there's some really nice rubble." Jack replies as he starts to pull s some of the pictures off the wall, "Let's get these safe for a start Tiger, then clothes, yeah?"

Kara is gonna be pissed. Ianto finds her room trashed as well, not much left unscathed but he manages to fill a couple of crates as Jack empties the kitchen cupboard and fridge. He is relieved to see the power has only been off for a while, the food all still good.

"Jack?"

"In the kitchen" Jack calls as he steps into the main room so Ianto can see him and he finds Ianto carrying some artwork with a look of thunder.

"Canvases are slashed, others smashed. Than the gods most of my work is at the gallery with the exhibition due...they wouldn't , would they?" Ianto's eyes widen as he stares at Jack and they head out to the SUV, driving to the gallery where Ianto is pleased to find everything in good shape.

"Oh wow" Jack says softly as he stares at a painting that is clearly Toshiko, her head turned back to look at the camera as she once did in life when asked a question, his face serene and beautiful. The red Japanese traditional robes fall gracefully and the sword she holds is eerily similar to John Hart's.

"Yeah" Ianto says softly, "She pops up now and then in my works. I can never forget her. Never."

"This will look perfect above the fireplace in our Lake House" Jack says with a nod of his head, "The red will match the stained wood rafters."

"It will too" Ianto smiles softly, pleased Jack wants his work in there.

"Come on, let's go tell that daughter of ours the house is toast" Jack finally suggests and Ianto fingers the USB stick in his pocket as he wonders if he should tell Jack about it or not.

Plenty of time for arguments later, right?

Ianto still can't believe he had forgotten about it in the first place, almost destroyed in the clean up.

Tosh would have never forgiven him.

[](https://pixxxels.org/image/kik0j8qr3/)


	33. close quarter combat

Kara steps into the barracks and went to her private room only to find a man sitting in a chair placed in front of the door with a sawed-off shotgun aimed right at her. "Step inside and shut the door."

She doesn't move, she's frozen.

Devon leans forward "Lady, I'm gonna shoot you in the face."

She does exactly as he says. Her mind is whirring as she tries to work out how he got the weapon past the security that doesn't even allow her to have a weapon in here.

Devon rises, still aiming the sawed-off. "Step away from the door, move into the room."

She does. He puts the shotgun down on the chair, then steps closer to her. "Okay, Kara, where's our Key, where's Jack, and when's he coming back."

I think you got the wrong room, my name is Sadie. I don't have any Keys, but there's a slide cord around my neck. I don't know any Jack, but maybe my husband does. He'll be home any minute, you can ask him."

Devon can't help but smile. "You're cute."

Devon jumps up and does a mid-air kung fu kick which catches Kara square in the face lifting her off of the ground and dropping her flat on her back.

Kara's lying flat. She actually blacked out for a moment, but the salty taste of the blood in her mouth woke her up. She opens her eyes and sees Devon standing there, smiling. She closes them, hoping it's a dream. They open again to the same sight. She has never felt more helpless in her life.

"Hurts, don't it. You ain't hurt that bad. Get on your feet, Fruit loop." Kara complies.

"Where's our Key? Where's Jack? And when's he comin' back?"

Kara looks in Devon's eyes and realizes that without a doubt she's going to die, because this man is going to kill her. "Go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut."

Devon doesn't waste a second. He gives her a side kick straight to the stomach. The air is sucked out of her lungs. She falls to her knees. She's on all fours gasping for air that's just not there. Devon whips out a pack of Lucky Strikes. He lights one up with a Zippo lighter. He takes a long, deep drag. "Whatsamatta? Can't breathe? Get used to it."

Kara is violently thrown into a corner of the room. She braces herself against the walls. She is very punchy. Devon steps in front of her. "You think your boyfriend would go through this kind of shit for you? Dream on, cunt. You're nothin' but a fuckin' fool. And your pretty face is gonna turn awful goddamn ugly in about two seconds. Now where's my fuckin' Key?!"

She doesn't answer. He delivers a spinning roundhouse kick, to the head. Her head slams into the left side of the wall. "Where's Jack?!"

Nothing. He gives her another kick to the head. This time from the other side. Her legs start to give way. He catches her and throws her back. He slaps her lightly in the face to revive her, she looks at him. "When's Jack getting back?"

She can barely raise her arm, but she somehow manages, and she gives him the middle finger. Devon can't help but smile. "You gotta lot of heart, kid."

He gives her a spinning roundhouse kick to the head that sends her to the floor. She starts to laugh softly as he realises she isn't that hurt at all, on her hands and knees spitting the blood from her mouth at him.

"I am gonna kill you for this." Kara says quietly.

Kara's looking pretty beat-up. She has a fat lip and her face is black and blue. She's crawling around on the floor. Devon is tearing the place apart looking for the key. He's also carrying on a running commentary.

"Now the first guy you kill is always the hardest. I don't care if you're the Fergatti Strangler or Wyatt Earp. You can bet that the first one's a tough row to hoe. Now, the second one, while it ain't no picnic, it ain't half as tough as the first. You still feel somethin' but it's just so diluted this time around. Then you completely level off on the third one. The third one is easy. It's gotten to the point now I'll do it just to watch their expression change."

He's tearing the room up in general. Then he flips the mattress up off the bed. Kara is crawling unnoticed to where her purse lay.

Kara sifts through her purse. She pulls out her Swiss army knife, opens it up, Devon turns toward her. "Okay, Sugarpop, we've come to what I like to call the moment of truth"

Kara slowly rises clutching the knife behind her back. Mr. karate man smiles. "Kid, you gotta lot a heart."

He moves toward her.

Kara's hands are shaking.

Anger can be a bitch to control, Taddy did try to warn her about the thrill of the kill in close quarters.

* * *

 


	34. making a right mess

"Tell you what I'm gonna do." Devon smiles "I'm gonna give you a free swing. Now, I only do that for people I like."

He moves close. Kara's eyes study him. He grabs the front of his shirt and rips it open. Buttons fly everywhere "Go ahead, girl, take a stab at it. You don't have anything to lose."

Devon's right, she doesn't have anything to lose. Devon's also right about this being the moment of truth. There is a ferocity in women that comes out at certain times, and it's just there under the surface in many women all of the time. The absolute feeling of helplessness she felt only a moment ago has taken a one hundred-eighty degree turn into "I'll take this motherfucker with me if it's the last thing I do" seething hatred. She knows she is not strong enough to breach his chest so letting out a blood-curdling yell, she raises the knife high above her head, then drops to her knees and plunges it deep into Devon's right foot.

Talk about blood curdling yells. Devon bends down and carefully pulls the knife from his foot, tears running down his face. While Devon's bent down, Kara smashes a water decanter that her Taddy bought her over his head.

Devon's moving toward Kara, limping on his bad foot. "Okay, no more mister nice-guy."

Kara picks up the laptop and tosses it to him. He instinctively catches it, and with his arms full of computer, Kara cold-cocks him with her fist in his nose, breaking it.

Her eyes go straight to the door, then they go to the sawed-off shotgun by the door. She runs to it, bends over the chair for the gun. Devon's left foot kicks her in the back sending her flying over the chair and smashing into the door. Devon furiously throws the chair out of the way and stands over Kara. Kara's lying on the ground laughing. Devon has killed a lot of people, but not a one of them has ever laughed before he did it. "What's so funny?!"

"You look so ridiculous." She laughs louder. Devon's insane. He picks her off the floor, then lifts her off the ground and throws her through the glass shower door in the bathroom.

"Laugh it up, cunt. You were in hysterics a minute ago. Why ain't you laughing now." Kara laying in the bathtub grabs a small bottle of shampoo and squeezes it out in her hand. Devon reaches in the shower and grabs hold of her hair. Kara rubs the shampoo in his face.

He lets go of her and his hands go to his eyes. "Oh Jesus!"

She grabs hold of a hefty piece of broken glass and plunges it into his face. The battered and bruised and bloody Kara emerges from the shower. She's clutching a big, bloody piece of broken glass. She's vaguely reminiscent of Jack in full rage. Poor Devon can't see very well, but he sees the figure coming towards him. He lets out a wild haymaker that catches her in the jaw and knocks her into the toilet. She recovers almost immediately and takes the porcelain lid off of the back of the toilet tank.

"Christ, are you a fucking Terminator?" Devon whips out another weapon from his shoulder holster, just as Kara brings the lid down on his head. He's pressed up against the wall with this toilet lid hitting him. He can't get a good shot in this tight environment, but he fires anyway, hitting the floor, the wall, the toilet, and the sink. The toilet lid finally shatters against Devon's head. Devon falls to the ground.

Kara goes to the medicine cabinet and whips out a big can of hairspray, pulls a Bic lighter out of her pocket, and just as Devon raises his gun at her, she flicks the Bic and sends a stream of hairspray through the flame, which results in a big ball of fire that hits Devon right in the face.

He gets off two shots that are wild.

One which hits the wall, another that hits the sink pipe, sending water spraying.

Upon getting his face fried Devon screams and jumps up, knocking Kara down, and runs out of the bathroom. Devon collapses onto the floor of the living room. Then, he sees the sawed-off laying on the ground. He crawls toward it. Kara, in the bathroom, sees where he's heading.

She picks up the automatic and fires at him.

It's empty.

Well shit.


	35. Taddy wasn't needed as he did his job already

Kara's on her feet and moving into the room.

Devon reaches the shotgun, his hands grasp it. Kara spots this and picks up the bloody Swiss army knife.

She takes a knife-first-running-dive at Devon's back.

She hits him.

He arches up, firing the sawed-off into the ceiling, dropping the gun, and sending a cloud of plaster and stucco all over the room. Kara snatches the shotgun. Arched over on his back Devon's eyes make contact with Kara's eyes.

She grins as she pumps it with one hand, now channelling her Taddy's calm.

The first blast hits him in the shoulder, almost tearing his arm off.

Kara pumps.

The Second hits him in the knee.

Kara pumps.

The third plays hell with his chest. Kara then runs at him, hitting him in the head with the butt of the shotgun. Ever since she's been firing it's as if some other part of her brain has been functioning independently.

Anwen, who's been hearing gunshots, bursts through the door stun gun drawn only to see Kara, hitting a dead guy on the head with a shotgun.

"Buddy?"

Kara continues to slam the butt of the shotgun into the man's face.

Anwen puts her gun away. "Kara?"

Kara continues.

Anwen wrestles the gun away from her, and she falls to the ground.

She lies on the floor trembling, still continuing with the downward swings of her arms so her fists keep up the momentum on the man.

"You call me mad" Anwen starts to laugh as she looks at the mess, "We can't say this was a spider by any chance can we?"

.

.

.

.

Ianto is in shock, standing in the middle of the room looking around at the carnage and he slowly turns to face Jack with a growing blush that Jack knows has nothing to do with embarrassment.

This is his anger flush.

"He's dead love, you can shoot him some if ya like but the girl did the hard yards" Jack shrugs.

"What key did he mean?" Ianto asks, now watching as his daughter gets butterfly plasters to the cut above her eyebrow.

"I don't know" Jack shrugs and Ianto believes him, "Maybe this is a future event? Something I've not done yet love. You know I am a deviant."

"Granted" Ianto sits and looks at the body, then starts patting the pockets, coming up with a wallet and he opens it to find strange cards.

"Yeah, these are 34th century credit chips" Ianto sighs, "This one followed John too? Son of a whore must have sent up a fucking flare or something."

"Sorry love" Jack grimaces, "I think this was his idea of funny."

"Well when I cut his dick off and shove it up his arse I hope he thinks fucking himself funny too." Ianto says with that deadly calm that makes Jack hard, his Cheshire cat grin filling his face as Ianto glares around the room.

"I'm OK Taddy" Kara assures him, "I will be sore for a couple of days but I remembered what you said about letting them wear themselves out and wait for the opening."

"You did good, I am proud of you" Ianto finally gives in and lets Jack hook his hand for a squeeze, "I wanna go home. I want us to dig in and just let the world go to hell for a while."

"And we will..." Rex starts to speak and Jack shakes his head to silence him.

"I know you all want to help, Annie you were spectacular helping our girl but Ianto is right" Jack tries to smooth the ruffling festers, "I think we just need time to de-stress. We've not even had time as a real family yet. The Lake House is perfectly safe."

"Well if you think that is best" Gwen says quietly, her own face showing her lack of pleasure.

"Gwen, your daughter was great today. A real chip off the old blockette" Ianto knows the best way to defuse the situation, "You taught her well."

Gwen immediately puffs up with self importance and Anwen shares a glance with Kara who is now holding an icepack to her poor face.

"Riiiight" Ianto rises and then sighs, "The vehicle count is rising too. I'm scared to drive the Austin Martin. I will take the Torchwood SUV and dare them to try hurting her. Black Beauty mark eight or whatever."

The laughter is expected, as is Jack's nod of approval as Ianto shows he is still moving forward with the plans so Jack pushes it home, "Right. Gwen you can see things better here, look for any changes in the cosmos, anything happening in the underworld that might hint at danger. We need you to be on alert."

Gwen nods and strides over to her PDA keying in things with gusto.

"Are you gonna handle me too?" Rex growls, making Jack snort.

"No Rex. Two immortals are something else, three is just a waste in one spot" Ianto answers for Jack, "I need you to watch Gwen and make sure she doesn't try to 'help' the situation and get herself killed."

Rex rolls his eyes as he agrees.

A distinct possibility.


	36. a wee bomb

They got back to the Lake House at dusk and Ianto felt a slight thrill to see the lights automatically turned on at the moment of their entering the section.

"When I hell did you set that up" Jack snorted as he brought his vehicle to a halt behind Ianto's and the snort over the coms was soft and not Ianto-ish. Jack tried to remember where he had heard that before but then the house interiors started to come on and he saw those leadlight windows that ran along the top of all the windows in the place and he sighed softly as the roses taunted him on their glass vines.

"Oh Taddy, so pretty" their daughter voiced their collective opinion and Ianto hummed his agreement as he stepped out of the SUV and looked back at Jack.

Sweetling care to drive it into the carport over there so we can unload easier? Me and Jack will go inside and he can open the connecting door for you while I start the fire." Ianto offered and she drove it into the covered vehicle bay by the side door as she wondered why he had not simply done so himself then that voice in the back of her head, that Boeshane reasoning she got from her father whispered that he was stalling her while he swept.

"You know Taddy, I am a grown arsed woman capable of taking point and clearing a room while you sweep" she scolded, "You two don't need to ...Taddy? There is something by the door."

"Stay in the car!" Jack demanded as he opened the window next to the back door and stuck his head out, then frowned, "Babe, looks like a basket. A welcome gift?"

"Or a bomb" Ianto said snidely and Jack sniggered as he popped back in. Kara now got to listen to then bicker like an old married couple and the thought was nice as she settled back to wait.

"No, I will go out. You have soot all over your hands."

"Soot. Are you kidding me, I've had worse on my hands as you well know sir and it's probably nothing that you will shoot full of holes so the jam or lovely cake is ruined."

"I don't just carelessly shoot shit full of holes."

"Excuse me?"

"Oi, you were shooting too. Do not tar me with that brush mister."

"Without proper feathers?"

"Taddy?" Kara decided to defuse the situation of not the bomb, "I'm cold."

Kara then decided to go for the clincher "It has a puppy in it."

The door flew open and both men stared at her as she stood on the doorstep with the basket in her arms, the puppy now clearly visible.

"Shit."

"Fucking hell's teeth!"

"Sweet, yeah?" she grinned at them, "Can I keep him? Pweeeeeze?"

Both men blinked and the Jack did the classic "It's up to your Tad"

Ianto gaped as Jack disappeared shouting over his shoulder "The fire will be going in no time, our princess is cold."

Kara grinned at her Tad who grimaced and peered into the basket again, "Well, I am not going to take care of it. It's your problem."

Kara made a noise of glee as she pushed past and raced into the main room, "Tad said yes!"

"Of course he did" Jack said without looking up as he lit the match and then leapt, slamming his head on the mantle as the fire roared to life with a whoosh.

"Jack did you use an accelerant on that?" Ianto sighed as he moved to the kitchen "I told you to stop with the kerosene."

"But it makes a lovely whoosh" Jack said with glee, his hands clasped together as he watched the flames like a lunatic.

"What sort is he?" Jack asked and Kara remembered the puppy, kneeling to pull it from the basket. He was white with a smudged back like soot had fallen on him.

"Huh. A wire terrier? Or a Sydney Silky? Looks like a bit of both really. Definitely a wee terrier" Jack said as he examined the see butter ball then handed it back to his daughter, "Might be some sort blankets in the attic stuff. Tiger?"

Kara watched her Tad produce bedding from thin air and even a little meal of chicken that he pretended were just leftovers.

Right.

When they hadn't been there to eat a chicken meal that might have leftovers, sure that's what they were. Nothing he had purchased for pizza topping or anything.

Right.

Kara grinned as she cuddled the wee baban with glee.

"I will call him Sydney" she said, "I like that. A killer if ever I saw one."

"Can I have a cuddle?" Jack asked, holding out his arms and he settled to croon at it while it licked it's chops. "Have any more? He might get hungry again, yeah big killer doggie needs feeds, yeah."

Ianto rolled his eyes "You are going to spoil it! Stop that!"

Then he went to check.

May have to roast one for tea now.

Poor wee mite might need another feed before bedtime.


	37. beeping hello

Jack watched Ianto as he moved into the kitchen to do the evening dishes, Kara cured up in her bed with the puppy, both snoring softly.

"Yan?"

Ianto grunted as he slammed the plates together almost loud enough to wake her, Jack's hands sliding around his waist to pause his hand over the pocket with something in it. "What's this?"

Ianto turned to face him, his eyes sliding to the side like they always did when he was considering what to say so Jack waited patiently knowing Ianto would not lie.

"It's what I thought they might be looking for" He finally replied, "It's the one thing I have guarded as fiercely as that gem in the other room."

"What it is love?" Jack asked softly, "Tell me."

"It's Tosh's work" Ianto pulled out the USB stick and held it up, "Her bubble, her facial recognition and all the other things she was not quite finished. I downloaded everything of hers habitually and when we lost her I...I ..."

Jack pulled him close, his heart in his mouth as he thought of Ianto keeping this piece of their friend all this time, "Oh darling."

"But Jack" Ianto pulled back to look him in the eye "The time bubble worked, remember? The Darleks stole earth, they broke into the hub, me and Gwen were saved. It works. What else might now work given the advancements since Tosh ...left."

Jack closed his hand around the stick and looked at heir joined hands, then he turned to look in the doorway where their daughter stood with her puffed black eye closed and her split lip pouting.

"Well, like you said. As precious as her." Jack took the stick and held it out, "This is the most precious thing from before you. Toshio's work. Tosh. The woman in red Taddy paints. This is her work. Look at it, you have time. Look at her work, her equations. See her rhythm, all her work had a rhythm like a song. Find it. You might see the tune."

She accepted the stick and looked between them, then said to her Taddy, "Can I share with Anny?"

"Yes love" Ianto said softly, "Fitting I guess, it's still Torchwood Cardiff just the next generation."

"What did you need love?" Jack asked.

"I wanted a hot chocolate but now wonder if my lip will let me have it." She sighed.

"I have straws somewhere" Ianto started to sort through boxes, "Somewhere, I know I have. Those candy cane ones you like so the chocolate has the peppermint tang."

Her face lit up and Jack saw what a lovely child she had been, saddened that both his daughters had grown up without him but so relieved this time he had been allowed to know her now and Ianto had clearly never bad mouthed him or turned Kara from him.

"Go back to bed and play with that on your laptop" Ianto waved a hand behind himself as he peered into another box, "Dad will bring it in once I've made it, maybe he and I want one too. Toddy?"

"Oh! Whiskey?" she asked with renewed glee as she scampered off.

"Yes darling, a nice malt here!" he called back and she made a noise of delight as she carefully got back in without disturbing the sleeping puppy.

"I remember her glasses on the edge of her nose" Jack said as he sat watching Ianto work at the stove, "Remember that pencil she chewed so hard it splintered? She was spitting it all over the meeting room table. Gods, Gwen pissed her off that day."

"I got her some plastic ones" Ianto smiled at the memory, "Smelt like apples and watermelon. She loved them."

"Tosh and her pencils, Owen and his badges. Gwen and...hey. What did you give Gwen?" Jack asked.

"Patience" Ianto replied and Jack laughed as he leaned back, the snark so apt. "Actually I always got her those muffins she likes. Blueberry, remember? Meetings with her muffin by her mug. That time Owen ate it to be a prick? She tipped her coffee all over him."

"Oh yeah" Jack grinned at the memory.

"Tad? What's the wee water dragon thing?" Kara called and he frowned.

"Like a wee blue one? That's Tosh's wee avatar, used to dace across my screen when she sent a message" he answered.

"Does the Macarena" she laughed "Cool!"

Ianto suddenly grunted and swung to say something but she had already clicked it, the place going nuts as every electrical thing in the place suddenly shut down and the lights died.

"Bum" Ianto sighed, "Baby, did you click on it?"

"What's happened? Taddy, its dead!" she cried.

"No" Jack said as he watched everything roar back to life with chirps, beeps and whirrs, then he started to laugh. "Clever wee dragon. It's OK love it's not dead, you just gave it life."

Ianto sighed,

"You knew?" Jack asked and Ianto shrugged.

"I suspected she had a backdoor, she always did" he nodded, "Didn't know it would be so excitable though"

"Taddy?"

It's alright love it's just mainframe taking over the world" Ianto laughed "Kara, welcome to Torchwood Cardiff's Mainframe. She's a sentient creature somewhere in the cosmos of space, remotely hooked in to the streams of binary code floating around earth waiting for us to reach out and connect her physically to the grid and at the moment she is so excited to be back she is overloading everything."

"Clever wee dragon" Jack whispered again, looking at the portrait he had carried in and placed on the mantle to hang, "Thank you Tosh. Well done. Hello Frannie."

The microwave beeped back happily.

She was glad to be back.


	38. moonlight Shadows

Jack had woken to a cold side of the bed and he went seeking Tiger.

He had thought Ianto might have gone up to his studio to set some things up but it was eerily silent and dark, the shadows long across the room with just the moonlight making the huge round stained glass window hit the back wall, the rose in the midle a blood red.

Jack looked at it and was reminded of the Hub for the first time and he smiled as he already saw a desk up in his old spot. Seems he was going to be invited to Join Ianto up here in their own wee Torchwood Office. He walked over to some cardboard boxes and crouched, not surprised to see some of his own pieces of tech that must have been salvaged from the old Hub or probably stolen knowing his light fingered sweetling, his hands pausing as he found something that seemed freshly placed from Ianto's bedroom given the smell of the shirt it had been wrapped in.

His coral.

Jack sat for a while cradling it in his arms, overcome with the small act Ianto had performed in stealing this from goddess knows where in the hopes of returning it to him some day. It was such a comfort to know that somewhere in his mind he had always hoped to reunite.

_Speaking of which, where the hell is he?_

Jack placed the coral in the moonlight, the stand Ianto had made a sturdy one made with care and he was once more taken with this, turning to walk to the window where he looked out over the water.

_What was that?_

Jack stepped closer to the glass where it was clear around a rosebud and peered out. The pier was clearly visible in the moonlight as was the figure standing at the end looking out into the bay. Jack felt his heart pounding in his mouth as the figure stretched and then turned and he knew in that moment it was Ianto.

Nothing else in the known verse moved like him, liquid.

Jack could see him ... so could anyone else and Jack was on alert, scanning the distant shore for any sign of muzzle flash or anything.

_Why was he out there?_

Then Ianto stretched again and the liquid became a writhing mass that hunched down and disappeared in the rising mist from the water that flowed over the docks. Gods, he was amazing to watch.

Then Jack searched the grounds he could see, trying to see where Ianto was now and the breath on the back of his neck had his knees go weak.

"What are you doing Cariad?"

"I could ask you the same thing kitty cat" Jack gasped with lust.

"Fran" Ianto answered, his hands sliding around from behind as Ianto plastered himself to Jack's back to warm himself against the furnace of a man. That Boeshanninan blood was so lovely.

"Fran?"

"I had placed some motion sensors and she wants to see how humans look in the dark, different moods and weathers. I was deliberately letting her see the size someone would be in certain places." Ianto explained "She was curious about the terrain so I walked about with the PDA as well."

"So she's happy now?"

"For now, you know Fran, she will probably want me out in a bloody lightening storm getting electrocuted next" Ianto sighed as his lips sucked Jack's earlobe into his mouth, "Are we really gonna stand here talking when you are buck naked in my wee space? You come into my den without any protection sir?"

Jack laughed softly as those fingers did such naughty things, then Jack leaned back letting Ianto lower him to the mattress by the wall.

"Oh Ianto" Jack moaned as Ianto breached him, his need as great as his own and they rocked and rolled as the mist encapsulated the house as if they were being taken to another realm.

Ianto and Jack knew their breathing had synchronised as they heartbeats probably had as well, the term 'like riding a bike' came to mind and Jack started to giggle as he tried to pant out loud the phrase but Ianto knew already, his 'ring the bell' not helping Jack's attempts not to laugh.

Only Ianto could do this, debauch and emasculate white making Jack feel so dammed sexy and godlike all at the same time.

An enigma.

His enigma.

Finally they felt that click they wanted, here in their own den.

Home.


	39. foot in mouth engaging

Next morning Jack was still high on love, humming as he wafted about in a silk kimono Ianto had lain out on the bed. Apparently their little girl was not accustomed to wobbly bits in the morning.

Yeah.

Ianto did say that with a straight face and Jack was still replaying it in his head, those vowels making it all the more lovely and he wished he had known it was going to be one of those talks so he could have recorded it, then the brainwave to ask Fran if she had occurred.

Ha!

A brainstorm before coffee.

Felt good to be back in the game.

Jack looked over as his princess emerged, the puppy under her arm like a wee fluffy soft toy, its eyes blinking as well. Ianto didn't even turn as he spoke "Hello Poppet, sit with your terrible father while I sort the coffee."

"Good morning Taddy, Dad" she said trying out the new title and his face showed his delight in her choice to use it, reassuring her that he was open to the idea of accepting her publically.

"And good morning to you Sydney" Jack crooned at the puppy who licked his chops as the bacon smells filled the air. "Babe? Is he allowed bacon?"

"It is salty" Ianto replied without turning still, "Sausage for him."

Jack and Kara grinned at each other as they both mouthed 'Soft Touch' at the same time, then 'Jinx' as they presented little fingers, their faces matching looks of shock and glee as they saw their mirrored motions.

Ianto finally turned to find them locked in a thumb war.

"Sweetling, if you are finished being a brat, can you check if the sausage is cool enough for Syd?" Ianto asked as the large mugs were placed down, then he moved to get his own as well as the food out of the oven, "That dog is not eating at the table you know that is a step too far even with those eyes!"

"Yes Taddy" she said as she poked the finely cut sausage with her finger, then lifted it down, "Is this OK for him?"

"Organic sausages, Jack doesn't do perseveres that well, he likes his sausages healthy love" Ianto replied, "I got everything organic and free of any ickys"

"Ickys" Jack said softly, loving the way Ianto spoke to her as though she was a little girl, but really she always will be right?

Wow, look at him go" she said as she regained her chair and watched him scoff the food down.

"Have your coffee and make a bacon buttie then you need to take him for a walk" Ianto staid calmly, her mouthful of egg freezing as she looked at him. He rolled his eyes, then unfurled from the chair he had been curled up in. "Fine. This time. Tomorrow morning you will remember to toilet him before breakfast, OK?"

"Yes Taddy, I forgot." She grinned, watching as Ianto scooped the puppy up that had been circling the wooden floor by the ranch slider and he stepped onto the large patio and then down onto the grass and moved out of view.

"He is a lovely puppy" Jack said to her, "He is smitten. Hates admitting when he feels mushy that one."

"I know, the chicken last night was a dead giveaway. I knew he was going to let me keep him, I always wanted a dog but he said no because he was too busy looking after me." She sighed, "A single parent had things hard enough without a dog in the mix, especially when we were in hiding and stuff. As a kid I never thought about that though, now I look back and I can't believe how normal he tried to make things for me."

"Ianto has the natural ability to make you feel like everything is as it should be, worked well when he had the Cyberman in the basement" Jack agreed, then stalled as she blinked at him blankly.

_Oh shit._

Ianto retuned and placed the puppy in the floor, the wee claws clicking as it ran to Kara for a nurse. "What are you two talking about?"

"Dad was just telling me you had a pet Cyberman or something" Kara said calmly, "Like...really? You had a real live one? All that talk about never going near one and how dangerous they are?"

Ianto looked at Jack with something that was a mixture of disappointment and something else Jack hated more. Shame.

"Lisa, the woman your father loved was partially converted. He tired to save her, gave it his all like he does with everything but she was too far gone and she finally fully converted and we had to euthanatize her" Jack said with glances of apology at Ianto who still stood by the door, then to Jack's dismay Ianto did the classic Hit-and-Run.

"Nice word for a firing squad" he sighed, turning and sliding out the door to run across the lawn and disappear in the drifting morning mist.

"Fuck!"

"He said his first love was you." Kara said after a few beats "Lisa was his first girlfriend but my parental was his first true love."

Jack ran like the Doctor was calling.


	40. I know ... let's stop saying sorry yeah?

The pier.

Ianto was sitting with his bare feet in the water, his slippers abandoned on the first few beams of wood where he had run out of them to get to a place of calm.

"Sorry" Jack said as he joined him, surprised at how warm the water was.

"I think there is a natural spring" Ianto said softly as he guessed the reason for the intake of breath, "around the bend in that eddy there I smell sulphur. Mild but there."

"A fissure?" Jack asked with surprise then realised Ianto had changed the subject. OK.

"The fish react to it?" Jack asked as he leaned forward "Explains the mists and fog at times."

"This old bayou is quite a little enigma. A perfect fit for us" Ianto flopped back, landing in Jack's lap and he looked up at him with his face open as always, "I know she was gone. I know it was a lost cause. Doesn't make it hurt any less that I failed."

"I know love" Jack let his fingers slide through those curls, watching them move and respond to his caresses, "I never thought you failed, I know even in the end you were strong. You raised your gun, you knew the truth."

They remained that way for a while, Ianto's eyes closed as the water whispered things and then he rose to go in, his feet drying as he had lain there and they slipped back into the slippers without a problem.

Jack was barefoot of course and just walked across the lawn, Ianto glancing back, "Gonna have to start checking for landmines if you got barefoot Cariad."

Jack froze.

Then Ianto giggled, "I mean dog turds, not real ones ya numpty. I didn't put any there!"

They were almost inside when it registered, "Wait, so you did place some?"

"Fran thought it was a good idea so she has inner as well as outer control of the environment. We don't even have to be home for an intruder to get a nasty surprise on several levels" Ianto grinned, "Seems she had a lot of time alone getting bored and wants some action. I pity the fool."

"Wow, Mr T before lunch?" Jack laughed as he recognised the growled quote, then shook his head. Thousands of years and Ianto had pulled his mindset back to default in a matter of days. He was the Captain again, on alert and ready to party.

Their daughter had taken advantage of their absence and all Jack could do was laugh and marvel at his daughter for channelling him as her plate was being energetically filled.

"Poppet, is that your second or third helping?" Ianto asked calmly.

"I did you each a plate in the warmer" she shrugged, "You snooze you lose Taddy."

"Harkness DNA, eat like it's your last meal" Jack shrugged as he settled and grinned at the sleeping dog in her lap. No dog at the table right?

"What are we doing today then?" she asked around her food.

"I am unpacking and I suppose you and your father want to check out the old boat under the patio in the boatshed." Ianto guessed, "Also might be good to check out the size of the boatshed area, see if a water ski or two would fit for summer."

Ianto chose well, two excited wrigglers rushing to finish their food like it was a race and Ianto wondered idly if one would choke, then they exploded from the table leaving a little puppy squeaking as it slid off the disappearing lap to land in his bed on the floor.

"Poppet?"

"Tad?"

"You just dropped the puppy, luckily into the wee bed or you might have broken a wee limb" Ianto said quietly that deadly calm that betrayed immense anger.

"Oh my Goddess!" she rushed to check him, "I forgot."

"Why he should not have been there, you know food rushes get you high" he scolded then looked at Jack who was looking at her adoringly and he shook his head.

"Go on, go. Leave the baby with me before you end up drowning it or something, go on you horrible ungodly child, go play with your horrible father then," he said theatrically and she squealed as she bunny hopped out the door, followed by a bunny hopping Jack.

No.

Don't know what they bunny hopped for either, apparently they thought it was hilarious though. Poor Ianto resigned himself to the fact that he had brought this on himself. Then Jack crept back in and kissed him gently, stroked his cheek and slid back out.

Better.

As yelling and screaming filled the house from the open doors, the sound coming up through the patio cracks as father and daughter fought about everything from who was going to get under the boat to check the depth of water to who was going to start it had Ianto pausing to listen.

Whine, whine, whine, whinge, bloody whimper.

Ianto walked out to the patio and sighed deeply, looking down at his feet.

"Either start the fucking thing or give it a Viking funeral but stop carrying on like it's doomsday and the zombies are gonna eat us for the love of Pete!" he said and giggles told him he had defused the situation.

"Sorry Pete" Jack yelled and more giggling as he went back inside telling himself not to use that phrase again. The two of them together was a catalyst for giving him a fucking brain aneurism or something.

He was sure of it.

Christ on a Harley.


	41. shake it up

"More throttle!"

"It's as far as I can push it ya numpty!"

Ianto had pulled the old chair out onto the deck so he could sit above the twats and listen with wonder as they worked together perfectly, their DNA showing them both to be hot heads and blamers.

The puppy was curled in his lap as he tucked his feet up and settled with a plate of sliced fruit and a nice book, a break from the unpacking that was a deliberate act to break the beginning of an OCD jag.

A cough.

A splutter.

Ianto looked down and wondered if his daughter was leaning over the controls with her full weight on the throttle while her idiot father leaned over the motor at the back fiddling with wires. IF that were true then...

WHOMP

The engine exploded into life, combustion achieved and the boat shot out from under the deck, the splash of a body hitting the water making Ianto sigh as he watched the boat shoot into view, his daughter still hunched over looking back at her father floundering in the water where he had landed and he wondered if she would...ah. She looked forward in time to see she was in a slow arc and swung the wheel before hitting the pier, the boat skimming the water as she whooped and crouched for less wind in her hair.

"Babe?"

Ianto walked to the edge of the deck and looked over the small railing with the limp puppy crooked in his arm, "Yes dear?"

Jack was dog paddling out to look up at him and Ianto schooled his face to one of disinterest as Jack looked up to see if he was laughing at him, "Did you see that?"

"I heard it Cariad, quite a good ignition" Ianto said calmly and Jack frowned as he tried to work out if that was a snark or not, then his face changed, "Yan, something touched my foot."

"Probably a catfish" Ianto said as he shrugged and turned to go back to his seat, then that evilness crept in as he called back , "Or an eel."

Jack shrieked, a high pitched Owen-like sound as he splashed and writhed for the lower dock and he pulled himself out of the water to examine his foot for sign of piranha bites or something that Ianto knew his daughter could see as she roared with mirth, throttling down to let the boat glide across the frontage of the house.

"You OK there old man?"

Ianto didn't have to see Jacks' face to know the reply on it and she screamed with glee, slapping the throttle again and she roared off around the bay once more.

Ianto sunned himself as he listened to the boat motor droning away.

Ianto felt a drip of water and cracked an eyelid to find Jack standing over him panting.

"Cold?"

"Fuck...fucking...freezing" Jack shivered and then he reached across to snag a piece of mango, dripping on the puppy who growled in its sleep. "Awwwwww, killer."

"Go get in a hot shower and leave it running for her" Ianto said as he closed the now wet book and Jack canted his head, but knew better than to even ask as he stomped inside, dripping across the linoleum to the little shower bay by the front entrance.

Ianto watched the boat nose its way under the house and counted time in his head as he visualised her bringing it back to its wee port, scampering to the bow and getting the rope and leaning out to hook the post and....

SPLASH

Ianto chose a piece of pineapple next as his daughter gave a shriek of horror and splashing then ensued as she struggled to get out unaided.

Ianto made a mental note to remind Jack to install a ladder.

Soon his daughter was stomping up the path with a look of thunder, "Where is he! He wasn't there to ...to...er...what do you call it?"

"Tie you up?" Ianto asked with wide eyes, "Darling even he knows that sounds wrong."

She glared at him, then sniggered and looked around in time to see him emerge from the steamy bathroom. She made a noise and shot in there, yodelling happily at the hot shower still running and he closed the door quickly as he realised she was pulling her clothes off.

"She was getting neekid!" Jack chortled, "My gods, a Harkness to be sure. No shame."

Ianto watched Jack pull a chair out to plop into still in his bathrobe, his hair wet and messy looking like he was a little boy waiting for his mama to come brush it so Ianto reached out and finger brushed it gently, "Handsome man."

"Sorry for bringing up old things earlier, I was wrong to do that. It's like a reboot happening, things I forgot or placed to one side are all coming back with a vengeance. SO long, but just yesterday. Looking at Tosh's portrait up there, I can smell her green tea you used to make her in the mornings." Jack smiled, choosing a banana to peel, "She hated these. Was allergic she reckoned."

"I know it was a brain fart Cariad, I know you would never accuse or blame. Things happened, be they good or bad they happened and they are part of the tapestry that brought us tighter into this simple yet pleasing pattern of life" Ianto said dreamily and Jack laughed.

"My darling Tiger Pants, nothing about us is simple, we are complex, diabolical and this tapestry as you call it is so thickly layered and heavy it could smother a black star!" Jack scolded, "But you are right."

"Hmmmm?"

"She is pleasing."

Ianto smiled softly as their daughter started to sing in the background.

"Really?" Jack sat up and turned with his mouth open, "My Milkshakes Bring All The ...what?"

Yep.

Colourful too.


	42. glossy coat?

Ianto let Jack have a trolley, the only way to ensure he got what he wanted was to let them think they were doing the real shopping and as she sat in the trolley that was for senior citizens looking like an oversized child he pushed her up and down with sound effects obviously trying to make up for those lost years when she actually liked that level of stupidity.

Her laughter also told him that she still likes that stupidity, a Harkness to be sure.

Brakes ... well either pretend brakes or they just ran over someone's small pet ... arguing. Ah. Marshmallows were in order apparently and the only argument was the size. Jack wanted supersize but Ianto knew Kara liked them bite sized so she could take it off the stick with one bite and not get it all over her lips.

Of course, Jack's mouth is sooooo much bigger as the poor child inherited her Tad's pert one.

Ianto sighed and solved it, "A bag of each?"

Silence.

The sound of something hitting the trolley. Twice, two bags added to their payload.

Ianto was inspecting the syrups, pondering if he needed papaya pulp at all...like ever ... as the trolley rolled along behind him and in the reflection of the shelf he saw his captain bent over the handles so his feet were not touching the ground and both of the idiots were locked in a tongue poking contest.

Ianto turned to watch then plucked the large packet of toilet paper nearby to hiff with all his might, catching the front wheels and halting the trolley before the large display of cans of baked beans that almost reached the ceiling.

Bloody beans.

Jack toppled headfirst into the trolley as Kara squealed with glee, slapping at him and calling him a dirty man looking at her milkshakes.

"See?" Jack roared as he righted himself and turned to look around frantically before finding his mate already beside them, "They are what she was singing about!"

"Well look at it this way, she can bring them to the yard and you can shoot them" Ianto crooned as he pushed the trolley back to release the toilet paper and place the mangled mess in the trolley. Got to buy some of that now apparently.

"He's just jealous because he can't display his mating tackle" she said as she gracefully climbed from the trolley showing some rare Jones DNA and Jack turned to quip but was caught watching her long legs as she straightened and stalked off.

"You know something?" Jack said softly as he folded his arms and glared after her, "I think she is completely sexed on the brain!"

Ianto swallowed hard against the giggle in his throat and canted an eyebrow.

"No, I mean it" Jack said, "She ogles men when we walk past them in the street and that pretty girl with the big arse, did you see her turn for a second look there too? She doesn't even hide it, like a ooogly ogle beast!"

Ianto waited and then as a young man in a tight fitting crop top wandered past he let Jack's head turn to watch with interest, then cleared his throat, "Yes?"

Jack turned to look at him blankly.

"Cariad. Looking and touching are two different things. I know that, you taught me that. I know that the appreciation in a fine artwork, or a fine arse is not an indicator of sexual deviancy. After all, that same said pretty girl as you called her pinched my butt while passing us, that's why our daughter swung to look back at her."

Jack stalled, his eyes wide as he wondered how he had missed that, wow.

"Hard?"

"Well, I am semi-erect" Ianto hissed as he slid past and let his crotch rub against Jack's hip pretending to misinterpret the question about the strength of the pinch and Jack made a small noise in his throat as he realised Ianto had him dead to rights with their daughter walking towards them.

Guys, look. Doggy treats, can we get some? Please?" she held out a sample basket and Jack was still trying to control himself as he looked down at the display of little jerky strips and bite sized hunks of dried meats.

Ianto opened his mouth to warn him but it was too late as Jack chose one and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully as he stared at the basket. Kara's mouth fell open as she stared at him like he had gone insane, then he nodded "Hmm. Not bad."

"Really?" She lowered the basket to look into it for herself and Ianto gave in, face palming as his daughter chose one as well and the staff member who had been following the vision that had grabbed his basket now stood dumbstruck as she ate some dog treats too.

"We'll take a bag of whatever they are eating" Ianto said calmly, "And one for the dog too."

The soft laughter of those watching filled the store and Ianto smiled as he looked around at the people who would be their neighbours and hopefully friends.

Great first impression.

Gods.

_Face Palm Engaging_


	43. doors are for closing

Kara had taken off that morning with a crunch of tyres and a cheery wave, Sydney in the crook of Ianto's arm as he wandered back into the house to find Jack still at the stove. Kara had eaten first while her Tad was in the shower and a kiss in passing before she flitted out the door was all he got.

"Well, I hope she doesn't catch flack for her extended leave" Ianto sighed as he folded into an old armchair to watch Jack work, his frying skills filling the small house with delicious aromas.

"They know she needed time to get over that attack, she is going back firing on all cylinders and ready to work those poor recruits into the ground" Jack laughed as he turned to look at Ianto, "Dog at the table?"

"Technically I am in the armchair, near the table" Ianto said with a sneer that made Jack laugh as he turned back to the stove and Ianto continued, "anyway. I was hoping you might feed me."

"Oh is that right" Jack laughed as he placed their plates down and picked up a fork, spearing some fried vegetables "Here."

Ianto accepted the morsel and hummed, letting his head fall back as Jack took a mouthful as well. They ate like that, Jack feeding Ianto as well as himself and this small yet poetic act made both of them content.

Ianto was watching Jack as he rose to do the dishes when he got a weird feeling, "Jack? Did you leave the boathouse door open?"

"No" Jack said softly, turning with surprise.

"I feel a breeze coming into the house, are you sure the doors are closed?" Ianto rose and placed the puppy in the chair, the wee fella snuffling into the warm pillows and drifting off again as Ianto walked to the edge of the deck and looked down between the slats. He could see one of the doors was partially open and he sighed, his daughter's habit of not waiting to make sure had cost him in the past with garage doors. "Damned kid."

Ianto glanced in as Jack clanked the plates with the sink filling so Ianto headed around the side of the deck and down to the boathouse under the house thinking it would be a simple matter of pushing the door closed and listening for the click. His hand was almost to the door when a little voice in the back of his head asked why Mainframe hadn't said anything.

He froze.

He looked up at the CCTV camera pointing at him and saw the little red light was not on.

No power.

No Mainframe.

Ianto knew he should have insisted they hook up the solar power and he took a tentative step back while considering options.

Jack had been cooking, the power had been on for the cooker, right? So, whoever had knocked out Mainframe had watched their daughter leave.

Oh gods.

KARA

Ianto exploded forward into the Boathouse with silent anger that aided his stealth and deadly intent, the hammer sitting by the door soon hefted as Ianto calmly ascended the internal stairs. He could hear Jack singing softly as he washed and as the door swung open and the shaft of light filled the stairwell Ianto could see the man ahead of him.

Tall, strong and a professional.

Ianto flicked the fuse box lever gently to bring Mainframe back online and counted to ten as the man ahead of him hesitated, hearing a soft beep as something came on with the power restored, turning to look back behind himself and his eyes met Ianto's moments before he realised he was already dead.

There was no sound bar the soft grunt of surprise as the hammer struck him in the temple and he blinked, then crumpled to the floor.

"Babe? Can you bring up a bottle of wine for tonight if you are playing down there?" Jack called from the sink and Ianto smiled softly, looking around the man at his husband.

"Jack?"

"Yeah love?"

"Can you pass the bin bags?"

Jack opened a drawer and flicked them at his husband then went back to his dishes.

Ianto dragged the body down the stairs and the satisfying thumping finally alerted Jack to a problem, "Babe?"

Jack walked to the door and looked down, "Ianto?"

"Just taking out the trash love" Ianto replied cheerily as he pated pockets for ID, flicking the wallet up to Jack as he came down the stairs and then kneeling to begin undressing the body.

"CIA?" Jack snorted, "Really? Fake as shit, he must be Homeland Security. They know they have no right to be here, they still haven't forgiven me for Miracle Day have they!"

"Well it was clearly you he was stalking Cariad, seems he didn't even consider me" Ianto grunted.

Once the man was naked he started to drag him towards the water and Jack walked down to watch as Ianto floated the man out into the bay, then plunged a knife into the gut, watching it sink.

"You think it will stay that way?" Jack called, "Won't it come back up?"

"Not once those gators watching on the other side of the bank get hold of it" Ianto called back and Jack looked where he was pointing with open horror.

"Jesus!" he spluttered, "Our child was swimming in there!"

Middle of the day, they were sunning themselves." Ianto replied calmly, "I knew they were there, so did she. She knows how to wrangle those, we lived in the Bayou for a couple of years. Good watch dogs."

Jack shook his head as he marvelled at Ianto's ability to still surprise him.

"Need more bloody bin bags now" Ianto muttered as he walked back up to the house, already forming a shopping list as Jack started to laugh softly.

Of course.

A hit man just tried to get them and Ianto wants to clean.

Must keep up standards.


	44. making an impact

Ianto was slightly distracted as he entered the store so he was around the aisle with his hand on the bin bags before he registered a problem, leaning around to look at the counter. The young men were obviously tourists, excitable and barely old enough to be buying the alcohol they were currently shoving at the store keeper.

"I still need ID" the man said, his elderly hands clutched together nervously, "If you look under 25 I have to ask, it's the law."

"Look old man, take the fucking money and let us have some of this jerky too" one demanded as he pulled the stand over, crashing everything across the counter and they all laughed.

Damn.

Ianto sighed, cursing as he saw his quick trip was about to become sometime worse. He liked this place, didn't really want to even be noticed but he could see the elderly woman standing by the magazines with her basket clutched to her chest with huge eyes and knew any minute one would...there we go.

"Hello there Grandma" one sneered, "Chockies?"

Ianto sighed as he replaced the bin bags, moving closer to the action as he looked around the store to see exactly where everyone was.

Four young men, two young women with them waiting outside and there were six locals including the terrified old man behind the counter and the small child sliding behind his mother with huge eyes.

"I suggest you all leave and head to the next town, there is a store there that might accommodate you" Ianto said calmly and they all swung to look at him.

"Where the fuck did you come from!" one spluttered.

"Wales" Ianto replied blandly.

They stared at him.

"Take your money off the counter and get out" Ianto repeated, "You are not welcome here."

"And what the fuck are you going to do about it ya poofter?" one was poking his finger into Ianto's shoulder and Ianto looked at that finger with distain.

"Well you are a quick one" Ianto smiled softly, "I am gay. Well done, most don't pick that so quickly, tell me. Is it because you are attracted to me? Only, I am a bit picky and I am quite sure you aren't going to be big enough to satisfy my sexual hungers."

One of them started to laugh, pointing at his friend, "Fuck, he has ya there. It's not that big is it!"

The man was incensed and (as Ianto knew he would) he swung. Ianto moved to one side letting the fist move though and then one hand seized the wrist as the other hand slammed into the man's elbow, the pop of dislocation like a gunshot as Ianto pivoted on his heel, swinging the now shocked man around his hip and into the main pillar by the counter.

Ianto then seized the next man who had leapt to his friend's defence and head-butted him, stepping back to kick another in the crotch. The fourth man stood stock still with his mouth open and the money still outstretched in his hand.

"The next town also has a wonderful medical facility" Ianto said after a beat and reached down to seize the arm of the man keening on the floor and yanked the arm back into position as the man screamed, then fell silent as the pain stopped.

Ianto leaned into his face, "Now be a good little fucktard and piss off before I dislocate it again."

They scampered out into the sunshine, pale and shaking as they all shouted and raged with fake bravado only to roar off in their Jeep as Ianto made like he was going to walk out after them. He turned to face those looking at him silently.

"Sorry about that, can't abide idiots" Ianto smiled softly, "Now, let me put this alcohol back in the chiller and we can all get back to business, yeah?"

"Thank you" the shop keeper said shakily, "I really wasn't sure what to do, Art took my gun off me last month after I shot at the bloody squirrel and accidentally shot the street light."

"Well, don't you worry about that" Ianto snorted, "Too many lights anyway. I like moonlight me."

"I'm not sure what to think about this" the elderly lady said sadly, "They are coming more and more these days. Once upon a time we were off the beaten track and allowed to have our little place to ourselves but now these out of towners come and stir things up."

"Well, I know my family are out of towners, after all I am from another country all together but I can assure you I was raised to show some respect" Ianto growled, "If they want to lark up and party they can in the next bay over."

"And if they come back?" the shop keeper asked with new worry.

Ianto plucked a pen from the counter and leaned over, writing his cell phone number on a raffle sheet and then he placed a dollar down to pay for the raffle ticket.

"If you need help I will always be here, my husband and I are here to stay" Ianto said calmly, "This is our town now, we intend settling."

"Lovely" the old lady smiled, "and your cute little sister too?"

Ianto blinked and then realised they were talking about Kara so he nodded.

Gods, she was going to love that.


	45. making an impression

Ianto got home and told Jack who roared with mirth. He loved the idea of them thinking Kara was his sister, then scowled when he realised it means he was the brother-in-law.

"Oi, she looks like me!" Jack defended, "Why do they think she's your sister!"

"Because you play the fool with her and I don't" Ianto shrugged, "I'm the long suffering brother, you are the friend."

"Huh" Jack grunted as he decided that made sense, "So, what now?"

"Now you get those solar panels installed like I asked earlier, Mainframe can handle another power cut then" Ianto answered, "I will be installing some more weapon caches around the place. The hammer was a lucky chance, I don't like that. Maybe we can head into town this afternoon, get some more knifes and such."

"OK love" Jack nodded, heading in to get the panels out. He was soon immersed in the chore of installing the panels on the roof of the patio, seeing that Ianto was right, they got the most sun.

It was late afternoon when Ianto carried out some snacks and they ate while Ianto admired Jack's hard work, declaring it a brilliant effort and then he rose, gathering up the dishes, "I'll put these in the sink for later, I think we need to shoot into town while it's still light and get those weapons I want."

The headed in, Jack drove as Ianto calmly at watching the world go by and they reached the town. There was a gun shop and they headed in, Ianto pausing at the knife display as Jack walked forward to the centre and engaged the man behind the counter in a conversation, the sheriff's star on the man's chest shining in the late afternoon sun.

"I want these ones" Ianto said as he came to stand next to Jack, the six knifes placed silently in the glass counter top and Ianto peered into the cabinet, "And I like that Bowie knife, do you have two or three?"

"Into a lot of hunting?" the sheriff frowned.

"Home security" Ianto answered without looking up, "I like knifes."

"You're the young man who was in the store earlier when those outsiders came in" the sheriff said as he noted Ianto's accent and Ianto finally glanced up at him. "Where are you from?"

"Wales" Ianto said as he straightened and Jack reached out to snag his wrist in silent warning as he felt Ianto bristle against him.

"My husband and I are ex-military. We've done our duty and are now just looking for a quiet life" Jack said and the man blinked at him, obviously confused given their young appearance.

"We are Elite Shadow Ops" Ianto said as he regained his calm, "We were both spooks. Can't talk about it, lets just say we can handle ourselves."

"I see" he looked from one to the other as he frowned, "And your names are?"

"Harkness-Jones" Jack smiled disarmingly, "We brought the Kinear place around the head of the bay."

The sheriff's face cleared as he leaned back to look at them with more interest, "Oh yeah? Mort said you paid immediately and even helped him move."

"Lovely man" Ianto nodded, "He is loving Florida, the last email had a photo of him by the pool. I sent one back of us by the water too. He thought it was a real hoot."

"Well, since his wife died he was quite disheartened but he did hope to find love again there in retirementville" the sheriff laughed, "I hope he manages to find someone who can handle his sense of humour."

"well, he had the shorts" Ianto shrugged as he checked the display cases again, "Look. This one is just her size."

Jack was instantly interested, the small blade was a nice looking piece, "You make these?"

"Yeah sort of a hobby" the sheriff grinned, "Nice to see someone appreciate them. Most want guns."

"Oh we have plenty of those" Ianto said distractedly as Jack grinned. The sheriff raised his eyebrows and Jack glanced at Ianto who realised what he had said and focused on the man, "Like we said. Ex-Military, Special Ops. We still have some classified weaponry and such. Gifts and that sort of thing, ya know. And trophies."

"Oh yeah?" the sheriff was interested now and Jack saw a man who liked guns as much as knives.

"Tell you what, come around tomorrow and I will show you some of those that are not classified, maybe you can shoot some targets" Jack offered and the man nodded happily.

Jack wondered if they had just made a new friend.


	46. morning stretch

Ianto was doing his morning exercises, standing on the end of the pier doing Tai Chi and he was turning in the slow moving dance-like trance he sometimes gets into when he felt a soft thump under his feet. He continued his movement to its completion and then opened his eyes to look at the people standing on the other end of the pier, not knowing that Ianto had been alerted to them by the plates under the decking that mainframe controlled.

The Sheriff was waiting calmly, the man beside him colouring as the woman huffed and folded her arms. It slowly occurred to Ianto that he was only wearing his sweat pants and he smiled, swooping down to hook his shirt up and pulling it on "Hello there."

"Hi, this couple wanted to meet you officially like" the sheriff said and then his grin widened as Jack came down off their front deck calling out to him happily.

"Coffee?"Jack called out eagerly, "Babe? Coffee?"

"I'm on my way Cariad, you only just drained the bloody jug!" Ianto scolded and the man snorted softly as he smiled and turned to follow the sheriff up the path. "I remember you, from the store?"

"Yes, I told my wife and she wanted to see for herself, didn't believe you were foreign." The man said.

Ianto blinked as Jack stated to laugh, "Brilliant. The first half of our relationship I was 'That American' and now for the second half you get to be that 'Welshman'"

"Really?" Ianto sighed, "can't I be more exotic and be...the foreigner? I could talk French or Swahili just to mix it up sometimes."

"Ianto speaks seven languages" Jack said proudly to the visitors and Ianto cleared his throat, "No. You've learnt more?"

Ianto started to count on his fingers, "English, Welsh, French, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Galactic Standard, Russian, Swahili, Italian, Greek, and I am now learning Hindi."

"Well I stand corrected love" Jack said with a deep bow of shame.

"So I should think so" Ianto said as he moved about the kitchen "We all having coffee?"

They all made appropriate noises as Jack grinned at the sheriff, "Did you see that advert in the paper for the shotgun? I want a double barrel, babe can I go look at that one? I want a double barrel."

Ianto hummed as he turned and placed a couple of plates of food down that had seemingly materialized out of thin air, then large mugs joined them before he settled in his chair with a foot tucked under him, "Pump action? A Browning would be nice. A Winchester would be sweet but I don't want another 20 gauge. Too heavy for her."

"12 gauge" Jack agreed, "Babe?"

"OK" Ianto shrugged, "I don't see why not. You can never have too much protection."

"Here here!" the sheriff nodded his agreement, "I was wondering, that thing you were doing out on the pier."

"Tai Chi. It's a bit like Tai Kwando and is great for breathing" Ianto said happily, "I like the gentleness to it, good for older joints."

Jack smiled softly as he knew the Ianto he had met at the agency before this reset had been starting to feel his years, glad they could have their peak condition back to enjoy each other and their life together.

Ianto rose from the chair, "So, what can we do for you today?"

"Shit" the man snorted, "I'm sorry, we've not even said hello. God, this coffee is good. Sorry. I'm Brian and this is my wife Bonnie. I wanted to say thanks for stopping the mess in the store also we are having a picnic this weekend in the town square and would like it if you can all come. Your sister will be back?"

Jack giggled softly, looking down as Ianto smiled politely, "Yes. Karaline. Kara to her friends."

"Picnic? I love food" Jack said around a mouthful of cupcake as Ianto sighed. They all laughed and then Ianto agreed, asking what to bring.

"We all have our own basket of food, we sit together and share." Brian explained, "Friends sit together so we would like it if you chose to sit on our blanket with us, if that's OK."

"Wonderful" Ianto said happily, "I guess cold turkey sandwiches Cariad?"

Jack hummed happily as he nodded, then swallowed, "And can I have some of those wee pie things?"

"Savouries?"

"Yeah, the curry ones, you are gonna love those, Ianto makes perfect curry pies just a bite and they're gone." Jack gushed to their new friends, "Yum!"

"Our son and his wife will be there too, and our youngest" Bonnie said happily, "He just turned 18 and is waiting to hear if he has been accepted into the military."

"Well, that is cause for a party" Jack smiled.

"Yes" Bonnie smiled, "We are so proud. Your sister wears fatigues too, is she military?"

"Yes" Ianto said shortly, then placed down the cake he had remembered, "We all are. Jack and I met through the job."

"Must have been awkward" Brain said softly, looking at the two men as Jack shrugged.

"Worse than you can think, not just the gay part but I was also his superior officer." Jack finally said, "Hard to be in charge when he rolled his eyes at you and the others can see."

The laughter was light and Ianto relaxed as he smiled at Jack across the table.

Friends.

Great, this was starting to feel like a new adventure.

* * *

 


	47. making friends

47

Ianto was walking across the green, scanning the area and it was Kara who noticed them waving, "Tad, over there."

"Baby, you have to stop calling me that" Ianto said softly as they changed direction and she huffed.

"I can't call you Ianto, sorry it feels stupid. Can't we say it's a family joke because you are so much like our Tad?" she begged and Ianto glanced at Jack who shrugged to show he didn't care either way.

"Hey there" Ianto smiled as he set the basket down he was carrying, Jack dropping the cushions he had under his arms as Kara let the puppy down on the grass where it flopped happily.

"Hi there, Kara right?" the woman asked "I'm Bonnie and this is Brian."

"Nice to meet you, not with kids?" Kara asked as politely as she could given she had Harkness blood in her veins.

"I'm unable, no" Bonnie smiled softly, "Always look after others, the town babysitter, we've fostered a few like my boy over there."

"I'm not ready to" Kara said happily, "I look at potential mates and really, I don't have the energy to be nice. I think maybe I just like my own company."

"Well said" Brian smiled as he decided he liked her, also noting the fact she seemed to resemble both men who were quietly unpacking their....holly shit sticks!

"Now they smell divine" Bonnie said as she leaned forward and peered at the pastries Ianto was plating from one of many Tupperware containers.

"Cornish pasties, Jack is addicted to them. Cheeky shit says it's what he fell in love with, I just came as part of the package" Ianto laughed.

"Hey, you are the total package love" Jack crooned, his hand reaching to stroke Ianto's cheek as he blushed softly and scolded him for being a Twypsn.

"Twypsn?"

"Fool, idiot, silly bugger" Ianto grinned, "Welsh word."

Soon they were enjoying the day, the pup on an extending leash so it could play with another little dog from a neighbouring blanket. Many people passed by, stopping to talk and greet, the open interest clear as Ianto and Jack did their little routine, Kara calmly eating with glee.

"Hello there, mister Harkness-Jones, Bonnie here tells me that you do Tai Chi" a woman said without preamble, plonking down beside them with her gumboots flying into the air, then straightening up like it didn't matter. Ianto blinked as Jack snorted into his cup of coffee....yes of course Ianto had a flask. She adjusted the front of her blouse and recovered the large breasts struggling for air and then flashed a smile.

"Yes, I do" Ianto said calmly.

"Well, we've been talking about it for a while, the quilting group...well we are the everything group I guess. Preserves, quilting, gardening, all sorts of working bees. We have been wanting to learn that but had no one to teach us. Got a DVD off the internet but it was in a foreign language. You ever considered taking a class?" It all came out in a gush as Ianto blinked some more. Jack saw a kindred spirit as he grinned happily at her.

"I've not considered it, no" Ianto said slowly, "But if you would like me to give a class to see if you like it, I would be delighted. It is very good for the joints and gentle enough to do in later life."

"Good, because if it gets much later for some of us it will be fucking midnight" she scoffed, "Oh Brain, don't bloody huff at me. I will not tone back my potty mouth just for newcomers, if they want to settle here they need to realise we are bloody serious."

Jack laughed as he flopped back beside her, "Look love, Ianto is used to potty mouths, shit he has lived with mine long enough poor sod. Also, we had a friend who was our medic and Owen could turn milk sour before his first cup of coffee."

"Military" she asked.

"Retired" Jack smiled, "Ianto and I were special ops."

"Really" she canted her head as she looked at him more closely, "So young."

"Not really, we have had alien intervention, ancient really" Jack said, deciding they needed to try some semi-truths in this place, her roar of laughter telling him she didn't believe a single bloody word.

"I'm Daisy" she finally said, "Welcome to town."

"Thank you Daisy, pasty?" Ianto held out a paper plate and she lit up as she accepted it, rising to wander off.

Well done" Brian whispered, "She is almost impossible to befriend once you've pissed her off. To have pleased her so early on it a good thing, that class will make her puff and preen. Make sure to be vocal about it all being her idea. She controls the women around here."

"Well, she will learn that Taddy cannot be controlled any more than Dad can" Kara laughed, taking another bite as Ianto resisted the urge to face palm.

"Family joke, we treat her like a child so much that she calls us her parentals" Jack grinned disarmingly, "It's a habit now. I catch myself telling people she's my daughter too."

They all laughed as Ianto poured another coffee from the huge flash and the bees buzzed about.

It felt good to have a place here.


	48. dancing with a sweet devil

Daisy was pleased to see Ianto was not just on time but early and his explanation that he felt those on time were secretly rude not to be early pleased her more.

She watched him set up with the same quiet grace she had noticed before, now more apparent in his black track pants and singlet, the sex appeal wafting off him like an expensive cologne and he was clearly oblivious to it, even if his partner was not and the man was a lovely addition in the eye candy department.

For some reason when she said this is brought a gale of laughter from the quiet man that was totally unexpected as the usually brash one looked scandalised, then winked.

Ianto started gently, warming them up and talking through it as he explained the origins of the movements and such, the lesson one of brains as well as body and when he turned to smile at them all and announce them fully ready to begin they all realised they were.

It was like a graceful dance and more than one lost their place as they watched his lovely body move, Jack calling out on occasion that he was taken to make them laugh softly and resume as he scolded them for looking at his beloved.

"Cariad, share" Ianto laughed happily, "After all, this village is all about share and share alike I think."

"Town" Jack called back, "A village raises your children, a town steals your man."

More laughter and then Ianto declared the lesson done for the day and they found him moving them to the other room that had refreshments.

Oh lord, wonderful baked things and the coffee was divine. He worked old Bessie the coffee machine like an old friend and many were amazed he even knew how to work the ancient contraction let alone with such affection as he refilled cups with a polite smile.

"So, you two settling or just gonna be sometimes?" the man from the plumber yard asked, his wife still adjusting her scarf as she found herself preening for the darker one.

"We intend staying" Ianto replied, "Jack and I spent the first half of our lives in my home, I feel it only fair I try to live the second half in his. Besides, my...Kara lives it here too. We will travel sometimes but I would like to call this home now."

"Good, we would like you to" Brian said, still limping from his over stretching and Ianto smiled softly at him.

"Bri, I did warn you about that downward dog" Ianto sighed, "You really need a massage for that, come into the office there is a sofa and I will see if I can ease that ligament."

Mouths fell open and Ianto deftly massaged the leg and Brian moaned with delight as Ianto showed his mad skills, rising with a gentle pat to the knee as he told Brian he couldn't sleep there all day.

"A masseuse" one gushed, "Did you see that?"

"Well, is there anything he can't do?" another huffed.

"I can't whistle worth a damn" Ianto answered without a beat, "but I keep a Jack for that."

"Oi for more than just my whistle I hope" Jack pouted.

"Of course Cariad" Ianto crooned, "You pretty the place up fairly well too."

"Fairly well...what? Fairly..what?" Jack spluttered, "I will have you know I more than pretty the place up, I am a fucking diamond!"

Ianto leaned back and raised an eyebrow as he waited for Jack to catch up to himself and he huffed as he realised he was about to walk into a trap. Wisely, he showed how much he had grown by clamping his mouth shut and walking away.

"A diamond" Ianto repeated to Brian, "Christ, does tht mean I have to be the one to propose?"

They laughed as Ianto looked over to find Jack in conversation with another local and Ianto struggled to find the name to fit the face, Harper. Yes. Owned the B&B.

"You ready to go?" Ianto asked as he slid around, sensing Jack's alarm at the way the elderly lady had entered the conversation between Harper and Jack, with her hand resting solidly on his arse.

"Yes please" Jack said with relief, moving away from the woman who pouted and Ianto turned to wink at her as he leaned forward.

"That one was free, next time I will send you a bill and I can tell you he takes a lot of maintenance" Ianto whispered, "does fit the hand lovely though, doesn't it?"

She laughed as she moved away and others nearby caught the exchange, laughing as well and nodding their pleasure in him not taking it wrong, Martha squeezed everyone's bum occasionally.

Ianto and Jack wandered out into the car park as the warmth of the day closed around them and Ianto turned to Jack, "Cariad. Swim?"

"Yes, wonderful idea darling" Jack said in a silly voce as they climbed into the SUV and took off up the road, heading home to lounge on the pier of their private swimming area. Jack had now got used to the gators and understood their preferred sunning times and sleeping times, trusting Ianto to know as well.

Well, doesn't he know everything?


	49. Those damned Banjos

Ianto was exiting the back room of the little bookstore with some good finds when he heard a commotion so he went to stand next to William who owned the knick knack and book store.

"What is it Wills?"

"Not sure Ianto, some sort of melee happening down at the bar and grill" William answered with a frown "That's Sandy screaming like that, someone's done pissed in her pot."

"You hang back William, don't want any problems" Ianto agreed as he placed his purchases down and walked out into the street, recognising the vehicle parked haphazardly in the road. Seems the little punks hadn't got the message ... either that or the next town had run them out.

"Bugger, I was hoping they got the message." Martha muttered from her pick-up truck.

"So did we" William said behind him, "There goes the Sheriff"

They watched the door of the gun shop slam back and Jack followed, glancing back at Ianto in silent question. Ianto knew the question as it didn't need vocalisation. Do we engage?

Ianto gave a nod, giving Jack the lead as he was closer so Jack walked calmly after his friend with the Bowie knife he still had in his hand sliding into the sleeve of his coat. Ianto hoped he remembered the coat and as if hearing him Jack removed the coat and flicked it over the bonnet of the sheriff's jeep parked in front of the Bar and Grill, a glance back to show Ianto he had remembered. Ianto revisited the urge to blow a kiss. Settling for a grin instead. Jack then held the knife against his inner wrist so it was visible from behind but invisible to those he approached with a calm expression to stand in the steet outside the entrance.

Ianto knew this was going to end badly, no other way for it too now and he steeled himself for the possibility of losing some friends today if this did go the way his gut was telling him it might.

"I fucking mean it!" the Sheriff shouted, "Get the hell out!"

The door of the bar and grill exploded back with the Sheriff thrown back through them and Ianto grunted involuntarily as Jack caught the poor man, both of them ending in a heap with Bonnie looking up with outrage into the bar and grill.

"How dare you, you little punks" she screamed, "Get out of our town, how fucking....Call Maurice and get his deputies here as well, lets.."

The boom of the gun had them all jumping, then Ianto watched with an open gape as Bonnie fell back, grunting as she grabbed for her shoulder, her scream shrill.

Damn.

Liked this town.

Ianto flicked the blade from his wrist, aiming for the hand holding the pistol and the clang of metal hitting metal was satisfying, as was the screech as the weapon was dropped and clattered along the siding, Ianto still moving forward as he neatly sidestepped another shot that went wild, the vehicle behind him rocking with the impact and he saw a sonic rifle being re-charged. Goddamned spoilt little shits with Daddy's guns huh?

Ianto continued his downward motion and scooped up the knife that had ricocheted off the porch and moved in a vicious downward punch, the man screaming as his foot was both impaled and stuck to the bottom step of the Bar and Grill entrance, Ianto continued to swing upward now, the rifle getting struck from the man's hands by his shoulder and Ianto neatly flicked it back into the startled hands of the sheriff that Jack had helped to his feet.

The next boom had Ianto turning, Jack roaring at his friend as he stepped between the sheriff and the fourth prick still in their vehicle, the blast knocking both men off their feet again and Ianto screamed involuntarily as Jack's head whipped back.

Head shot.

Lethal.

Game on.

Ianto turned, firing his other knife frmo his ankle holster at the fucker who had killed Jack, the knife now inoperable so he snatched up a beer bottle of a street side table and swung it up, smashing it against the handrail and then driving it into the fucker's throat, thereby allowing him to retrieve the knife from his foot.

"One more" Ianto huffed, "I count one more head for a fucking pike!"

Ianto rose, stalking up the steps and into the darkened interior where the remaining little punk was clearly hiding behind the bar from his whimpering and the owner's frantic gesturing beside her.

"Come on, little piggy. Come out come out, wherever you are. The Big Bad Wolf is here and he will not only tear your house down, he will tear your head off and shit in your neck" Ianto drawled "Come on, little fucker. Come. Maybe I will just maim you, let me see if you pissed me off enough to get fed to my gators?"

The answer was a banshee scream as the man rose, a sawn off pumping as he tried to raise it and the owner let her hands drop, "Are you fucking kidding me? That's my fucking gun you little shit and it's fingerprint activated!"

"No mind" Ianto said calmly, even pausing to look at her and smile reassuringly before reaching out to seize the barrel, pulling it towards him and he grabbed the startled man's hair on the top of his head then slamming said head into the bar face first. "Right you little shit, if my husband is dead you are too, get me? You feel me? We are going out and checking my beloved. If that headshot was a kill shot like I think then you will die, once he is back he will be so pissed. Gods, look at this mess."

Ianto was talking in a calm, almost conversational way as he pulled the protesting man by his hair, heels drumming as the victim was yanked out into the bright sun and dumped in the dirt.

Ianto could see immediately that he was tight. Jack was dead, the sheriff openly weeping as he tried to wipe the blood from Jack's face.

"Coon, you got rope on your truck?" Ianto asked calmly

"Yeah" the old trapper spluttered, his old rifle shaking as he aimed at those still writhing in the dirt.

"Good, back her up and load these fucks up. Gotta clean up our mess ya know" Ianto was flying on adrenaline and mild insanity as he dropped to his knees and gathered the limp body into his arms, Bonnie also cying as her husband held her tightly, crooning as he tried to hold a cloth over her wound.

Ianto sighed and looked over, Martha catching his eye. "I knew another Martha once, she was a good woman with enough moxie to save the entire world. I believe you have that moxie Martha girl. Tell me, do you believe in miracles?"

"Yes darling, I do" she said softly.

Ianto smiled and winked as Jack gasped to life, clutching for him even as he struggled to cry out his name.

Ianto bent over and kissed him hello.

Let's see what they really think now.

.

.

.

How was that Lady Emma?


	50. welcome really

"Aliens?"

"No. Well... no" Ianto finally decided as he straightened and cricked his back, "Jack is from another place but human like you or I. I mean ... I am human too. There was a little accident and Jack was made immortal, the Doctor is a bit vague about..."

"The Doctor" Bonnie huffed, "That bloody buffoon. Really? He came here one in that monstrosity of a blue box heaving and gasping everywhere like it's air brakes were on."

Jack accepted the ice pack from Martha with a grateful smile, placing it on the back of his neck in the hopes of calming the headache that his revival had brought with it.

Head shots suck.

"So. That joke about being immortal, you both are? And your sister?" Brian asked as he tried to work out the logistics, passing with a pulse rifle over his shoulder.

"Ah. Well, ya see that is a funny story" Ianto said, then stalled out as he stared at Jack, "Er, Cariad? How do we explain the pregnancy?"

"We worked for the queen hunting aliens. An Alien race tried to kill me but instead I became immortal, I knocked you up and made you immortal as you were carrying my DNA in you when you died, then a couple years later Miracle Day happened and I almost died. You almost died, thank the gods Kara was with you and safe but it made you wary of people." Jack said patiently, "Kara was a miracle too."

"That's where I saw you!" the Sheriff hooted, pointing at Jack, "You and the broad with the tits and gap in her teeth all over the news"

"Yah" Jack sighed as Brian frowned. Ianto's soft laughter was heard in the background at Gwen's description. Jack knew he would tell her too. Little shit.

"I remember that too, that was, what...twenty odd years ago?" he asked with confusion.

"Twenty one" Ianto said softly, "Kara was just a baban. Yeah. She is 23 next month."

"That must have been terrifying, it was for us" Bonnie sighed, "the entire world went stupid for a moment."

"Well, we moved here after 9/11" Brian told them, "We are from here, moved away for the careers we thought we wanted as I had family there. Bonnie was a librarian and I worked for the NYPD."

"You must have been young," Jack pointed out, leaning forward.

"I was barely in my mid thirties that day" Brain nodded, "Longest day of my life. I lost friends, family. Two cousins and my uncle gone. I finally got home two days later and looked at Bonnie, my lovely wife and the thought of losing her...I couldn't deal with that. We decided to come home."

"Homecoming king and queen, we came home to a rousing welcome." Bonnie smiled softly, "He was sheriff within five years and I hoped for children while working as his receptionist. When we discovered I couldn't have kids we became foster parents. Went on to adopt some of them. They've all gone onto thwie own lives but you did meet our youngest at the picnic."

"Well, imagine _my_ surprise" Ianto quipped as he recalled the small black teenager with huge eyes and a big smile that kissed her and called her Mama, "Children were never part of the deal here."

Jack had been watching a man he had seen before that was now helping them. He had been lurking at the picnic and again at the timbre yard so he turned to face him, "Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood."

The man froze and seemed to blanch, then look at the outstretched hand with curiosity. Ianto had turned to look and snorted, "Trust you to find one all the way out here. Hello there, ignore him we are retired."

"That's Steve, he doesn't talk much" Brian supplied, "Shy."

Steve blinked slowly an accepted the hand, stepping closer as he looked into Jack's eyes then smiled.

"Hello" he said in a high pitched voice, "I am Stefferigit. They call me Steve as it is easier. I think I like it. I am here for the water. Sol 3 has so much water."

"Of course you are" Jack laughed, "You lot are notorious for being mistaken for mermaids when you swim. Gods, have you been watching us? Look, Ianto doesn't mind company when he swims, come join us when you see us in the water. Hey. You are the one controlling the gators."

"Yes, this is true" he agreed, taking the feet of a body and lifting it from the tray of the truck and watching one of the alligators slither from the water to seize the body by an arm and drag it under.

Ianto stepped to the edge of the water and looked out over the bayou, the crickets chirping again as the water stopped rippling, setting to a mirror sheen once more.

"That was the last one" Coon said, "what about their vehicle?"

"Did you ever see that old movie called 'Dusk 'til Dawn' by any chance?" Ianto asked softly, "I feel like we are the vampires and we are about to start some sort of car graveyard somewhere to hide the evidence of our repeated kills"

"Classic" Coon snorted, his old hands waving as he slipped and Ianto swung to catch him, pulling him back from the edge with ease. He was starting to remind him of Owen with his ability to find a problem. He now knew the old man was connected to Harper at the B&B somehow and it niggled.

"I've never killed anyone" Brian said, "I don't think I could. Never had to fire my gun."

"I am trained, have done my duty" Jack said grimly, Ianto nodded his agreement, "A good lawman should never have to use his weapon if he van think of a solution Brian, a good soldier uses his without a second thought."

"We had to" Bonnie told her husband, "You saw them, you saw what they did. Life isn't like it was ten years ago love. Things changed after that stupid man became president and almost started civil war, let alone near world war III. The riots, the killings...no. We had no choice."

"Martial law" Ianto agreed, "I don't usually give a strike three either."

"You know, when you moved into the bay I really wondered what was going to happen, so young and both seemed so withheld. Now I understand, shit. You've been places, seen things we never will, can never even imagine" Brian said with wonder.

"You have no idea" Jack sighed as he relaxed and accepted that their place in this town was not in danger.

He wondered if there were more survivors hiding here from the outside world.

He had a feeling they were all hiding here.


	51. unwanted

Kara was cutting the water with the canoe, her rhythm tight as she pulled the blade through the black liquid, her eyes scanning the way ahead.

It was early, the morning mist lingering in the mangrove swamp that sat higher up around the bend and she was just starting to think about breakfast her Tad was probably already starting to prepare when she saw it.

At first she thought she was looking at a piece of debris and she moved her canoe closer to poke it with her paddle but then she felt the hair on the back of her neck start to quiver so she pulled back, letting the canoe drift back a bit as she considered then she pulled out her satellite phone and called home.

The next fifteen minutes felt like fifteen hours as she stared at it, a voice whispering what it was but she really didn't want to know. The sight of her parentals coming towards her, their canoes moving like bullets was more calming than she thought it was going to be and they came alongside, she pointed in the direction of it, "Could just be some trash but it looks like sail cloth or something. Gave me the heebie-jeebies."

"No, you were right to leave it" Jack assured her as he motioned to Ianto who pushed his canoe closer and leaned out to peer at the bundle with a frown.

"I think it's a body" Ianto said after he had considered, "Weird that the gators have left it alone. I don't like it."

"OK, closer but no touching" Jack said and he watched Ianto gingerly lift the corner of the cloth with his paddle and his grimace told Jack it was not something Kara needed to see. Jack turned to her, "Baby, go to the outer edge of the trees and call the sheriff."

She nodded and pushed off leaving them together, "Ianto? What can you tell me?"

"Male, approximately….ah…. ten? Twelve maybe? Caucasian. Dead." Ianto replied, then shook himself as he lamented that he was getting soft in his old age, "Dark brown wavy hair about three inches long and his lip seems split at one corner. Can't tell it if's post-mortem or not."

"OK, came back to me" Jack said softly, and Ianto pushed off to let the canoe drift back, his dismay clear now as he glanced at Jack. Jack caught the nose of the canoe and pulled him flush against his own canoe, "You OK?"

"No. Horrible." Ianto shivered. "Jack, that's just a child. He is not at peace, that face is definitely not a peaceful one."

"It's OK babe" Jack assured him, then turned at the sound of a motor, Coon nosing his flat bottom skiff toward them with the Sheriff and Steve on board, their faces bland.

Jack relayed what he knew and they all nodded, Steve sliding into the water to retrieve the body with infinite care, placing it on the bow of the boat where they all watched as the sheriff gingerly unfolded the canvas to look on the face of the boy.

His grimace spoke of pain and fear, the little sand crab scuttling form the split lip making Ianto growl softly as he looked away and saw his daughter waiting nearby, clearly able to see too. He pushed away from the boat and glided over to her, "You OK Sweet Pea?"

"Yeah, how did he die? Did he drown in that? Like … trapped?"

"Hey, don't. One of the worst things you can do is imagine a death, see it and dwell. We don't know. He is most likely dumped right? That suggests he was already dead before hand, OK?" Ianto reasoned, "We will wait and see."

The Sherriff flicked the canvas back all the way and they stared at his shiny shoes, his little black trousers and blue shirt neatly buttoned up. The Sherriff swore softly as Steve looked over at them, "He is from the community upstream that feeds out into the bay."

Steve's melodic voice seemed to soothe as he slid over to talk to Ianto as he seemed to see the dismay, "The Amish Community. He is dressed as they dress. Maybe he died and they placed him in the water to send him off but… they usually bury their dead."

"Yeah, I don't think they would let him go without a hat either, they have those straw hats right?" Ianto surmised and the Sheriff straightened up as he listened and looked at Jack.

"Your husband is right, there is no hat. The way he's wrapped it should be in here right?" the sheriff asked and Jack nodded. "Damn it all, they hate us going in to talk to them. Really secretive and …shit. Steve?"

Steve turned to face Jack as he ignored the sheriff and Jack grimaced, "Steve, they are humans right? I mean … they aren't secretive because they are bloody aliens right?"

Steve blinked, his second eyelids moving left to right as he shrugged.

"Steve?" the sheriff was openly horrified now.

"Mehaps they ain't….ah….mehaps they is. Dunno, they don't like water dwellers." Steve finally said and Jack huffed as he looked at the child more closely, now leaning in to examine him, his hands stroking his head back behind his ears, then opened his mouth to check and he sighed.

"Ianto, I have elongating K9s here" Jack looked up.

"What? Vampires?" the Sherriff gasped and Ianto started to laugh shallowly as he looked away from the madness.

"In daylight?" Coon snorted, "It would'a turned to dust even dead. Get a grip. Nah, it's a ware. Right? A Lycanthrope or some shit."

"Yeah. Looks like it's a pack of werewolves in the boondocks" Jack sighed.


	52. seen

Kara could feel her Tad's worry coming off him in waves as he repeatedly touched his throat for the tie that wasn't there and she moved around by him as they loaded the boy into a body bag before removing it from the boat.

"Tad?"

"This smells wrong" Ianto said softly to his sweetheart as he snaked an arm around her to pull her further from the body and the odour starting to fill the air now the cloth was fully opened to the elements. Like a thick musk in the air that was unique to that of a human body, "This is all wrong. Something… I wish you hadn't found it love. Even if it brings peace to those looking for him it's opening a can of worms."

"I agree" Jack said as he came to flank her and she felt the warm safety of her Parentals like bodyguards, which in a way they had moved to become just that in a few scant steps, "I don't want us in this."

"No" Ianto's' answer was short and clipped, speaking volumes as Jack nodded his agreement and moved over to speak to the sheriff.

"Any way you can possibly keep us out of this? Torchwood have a bad history with the lycanthrope of England, could be that reputation precedes us like everything else. We are retired and just wanting a quiet life and don't want…." Jack's hushed voice died as he watched Ianto go into a protective crouch, his hand moving back to a concealed weapon as he watched a group of men approaching silently. "Fuck."

The Sherriff moved quickly to greet the men and Jack fled back towards Ianto and Kara who were already melting into the tree line where they then waited for him to catch up and he motioned them on, "Move."

They double timed it but Ianto kept canting his head, no doubt hearing something with that eerie insight that had him glancing to their left now and then. After ten minutes he stopped and Jack whistled their daughter ahead of them as he turned back to watch Ianto close his eyes and commune with the world around them.

He waited as the sounds of the bush closed in around them, just their soft breath and moisture dripping from the trees like they were weeping for the child.

"Flanking, at least two. No way to outrun them" Ianto said flatly, as he scanned then pointed with a noise of relief at something out in the bay. Jack slid down the back towards Steve's skiff gliding into the water without a splash to swim out to the man fishing without the slightest inclination that he had impending visitors, the others following and Steve looked up with surprise as he dropped the ell trap to pull the wet family inboard, looking back to shore with confusion then annoyance as he saw shadows moving. Now he knew why they had come up on the other side of the boat to shore as they slithered over the railing to lay unseen.

"Sorry, they seem determined to speak to us and I have laryngitis today" Jack panted as he slid Kara to the floor and Ianto sat like he was comforting her even though they all knew it was a loose cover.

Steve instinctively heded for the middle of the bay before powering up the river and into the swap, doubling back to their home to drop them off and Jack could have kissed him for the extra care in hiding their location.

"They will find you eventually" Steve warned, "Surprised they've not so far."

"We are pretty well hidden" Ianto answered, the AI listening impatiently as well while scanning the area and Ianto knew he would be placing more sensors further out before dusk. As Steve left in another direction to cause further confusion to anyone looking for him Jack turned to Ianto and they shared a solemn look Kara knew well.

"I will take first shift" she said as she headed up towards the steps to the patio, "You two do your silent arguing in the other room and someone can spell me when you have agreed to whatever."

"Smartarse" Jack muttered affectionately as their daughter bent to scoop up the dog waiting at the swung door and she yelped as Jack slapped her butt in passing, "Thanks for opening the door for me Toots."

"Dad! That's sexual abuse!" she roared and Ianto sighed as he slid past her to follow his Cariad.

"Doesn't work love, sexual harassment is just another form of communication for him" Ianto whispered and she snorted with mirth into her dog's fuzzy body, turning to look back over the water with a feeling of unease.

Taddy was right.

It would have been better all round if she hadn't found that poor little boy.

Nothing good ever came for sticking your head above the foxhole.

Taddy always said so and Taddy is never wrong.

He knows everything.

* * *

 


	53. what's the big idea

Ianto knew it was coming and when the Sheriff's skiff bumped against the pier he was sitting on he simply rose and reached for the guide rope.

"Sheriff Hastie" Ianto said amicably.

"They want to talk to her, are kinda insistent" Hastie said without preamble knowing this man didn't want pleasantries which was fine by him. Hastie liked plain talk.

"She is due home from the base with Jack this avo. We can come in about four?" Ianto asked, canting his head, "Coffee?"

"Nah, gotta head back to tell them" Hastie sighed as he pushed off and as Ianto watched him leave he had that unsettling feeling that something had just happened that was not fortuitous but no matter how he played back the conversation he could not find what had worried him.

He went inside and made sure Mainframe was up and running, nothing to be seen and he scolded himself for being weirded out about nothing.

The jeep roared up the drive with both father and daughter looking pleased with themselves as they clambered out only to have Ianto meet them with a look of doom as he explained what had happened while they were away and Kara climbed back into the driver's seat.

"I need a shower" Jack said as he kissed Ianto and agreed to stay home with Sydney as Ianto slid into the passenger seat and then held on for grim life as his daughter sped like the maniac her father's daughter was towards the Sherriff's department and the waiting interrogation he didn't want.

Kara went in first as Ianto folded to read a magazine without much real interest. He was covertly watching the woman behind the desk, the man who kept walking in and out of other offices looking covertly at Ianto and then at a man who was supposedly working at a desk but his phone call seemed endless and mostly hushed whispers that had Ianto wondering who he was speaking with.

Ianto removed his cell phone and called mainframe, giving the correct covert messages to have her check the phones. He felt stupid asking her to tap the phone for the local sheriff's department but so damned curious to see why he felt the need. He was not surprised when her polite reply was that it was both an unlisted phone and definitely in the upper region behind the mangroves where they suspected the boy had come from.

Ianto pondered this as Kara emerged and he stepped towards the door to the office as a click of a phone hitting it's cradle had him looking back at the man who made a motion with his hand and Ianto was told that he was not required to give a statement at this time.

Ianto didn't like it one bit.

Something was up, something was definitely off and he wanted to get home but there was the problem of a possible tail and he…. Oh gods. Hastie.

Ianto fumbled for his phone and called the cottage but got no answer, then calling mainframe for the same result. Why was she not answering? Was she busy?

"Tad?"

"Step on it love, drive like I am not in the vehicle" Ianto snarled as he started to run a diagnostic on Mainframe, "We were a diversion, they wanted us out of the house for some reason."

"But Dad didn't come" she frowned.

"Yeah"

Kara sped up the drive and the gravel spat from the tyres into the garden but she knew Ianto would not be scolding her as he leapt from the passenger seat and headed towards the house only to hesitate and cant his head, his eyes scanning.

"Kara, stay in the vehicle" Ianto demanded "Weapon up."

She nodded and then called out softly, "Tad? Sydney is OK, right?"

Ianto didn't answer, heading around the house as he took in the open screen door and the swipe of blood on the knob that meant someone entered already injured. The body was checked and stepped over as Ianto moved past a bullet riddled dead man whose look of surprise as mirrored by that of a dead Captain who lay in the flowers by the back door. He was naked, obviously had been in the shower when Mainframe has alerted to incoming visitors of the uninvited kind.

So. They had come, met Jack, fired on one another, Jack felled one, took a hit, injured another….one? Two?

Ianto straightened Jack's head to help the severed neck as the blast had severed most of it and he knew Jack was gonna be pissed if he came back with a crick in his neck. Ianto stood and then saw a little splotch of something under the deck and his heart was in his thoat as he approached to look down at the puppy with dread.

Then a little head raised to look up at him with fear and he could have wept with relief as he saw that the little one was just terrified, not injured and he motioned for him to stay in the dirt, hoping he understood as Ianto crept up the back steps to the side door, his heart thumping with adrenaline, anger and that little thrill of a hunt.

Those inside might be armed, dangerous and killers but they were woefully underestimating the one coming for them.

Ianto was immortal after all.

And pissed as all hell.


	54. skinning it back

Ianto saw the blinking light that showed Mainframe was aware of her uninvited guests as well, her silence as she assessed comforting Ianto who waited as she detected his presence and then a lamp in the hall turned on, a low glow to show the way and he stepped over to the stairs and headed up towards voices.

Two.

Ianto listened to a conversation as the men hunted though Jack's office space and he felt alarm as one of them asked what the coral was for, throwing it across the room and Ianto watched it sail past the hatch with his heart in his mouth.

If they dropped it he would kill them.

Maybe he would anyway.

He considered and then moved back down to slide under the stairs and he whispered under his breath to mainframe to turn on the stereo in the lounge.

Music boomed out and one of the men pelted down the stairs followed closely by his companion who Ianto calmly grabbed the ankles sending him against the front one and both men tumbled to the floor then looked back with shock as the music cut off with the same suddenness.

Ianto stalked out from behind the stairs with his eyes glowing with rage then one of the men said the dumbest thing he could think of, "You're not even armed dipstick!"

"No but I am" Kara said from the doorway with her pulse rifle on her hip and Jack swaggered around her with the fake bravado he usually wore after a resurrection.

"Well now, what has my Tiger caught?" Jack asked as Ianto rose to his full height, his growl low in his throat as he looked down at the two men.

"Stray dogs"

"Well now, they might have fleas, frisk them carefully love" Jack warned as Kara crouched to pat them down and she rose with her hands full of wallets.

"Come here baby, come to Taddy" Ianto demanded and he checked the wallets, his eyes flicking from pictures to faces then handed them to Jack as he reached out to seize the nearest man's foot.

"Right, you are not Lycans so I assume you are handlers. I also assume you have some way of contacting them since there are no phones so I will just start searching under the skin for trackers" Ianto said conversationally as he flicked his wrist to reveal the ever present blade and he cut the cuff of the pant leg and pulled down the sock to examine the ankle, "Hmmm, I might be able to cut right…."

As the blade tickled the skin the man yelped and looked at the other one with pleading eyes, "George! For fucksake, he's gonna skin me alive!"

"Well, only for the beginning, you will die from exsanguination … sorry…blood loss for the less informed before I finish around your fucking ears." Ianto muttered, then paused to look up at his daughter, "Sorry Sweet Pea. Potty Mouth Taddy."

She smiled and shrugged, "That's OK Taddy, maybe I can stat on the other one? Please? I need the practice."

"Now, now love. You are still new at this and need to learn from the master. Your Tad can make them scream until their vocal cords fray." Jack said happily, winking at the one watching his brother squirm.

Ianto shrugged and slid the blade under the first of layers of skin as the man screamed with horror.

"Stop, stop please! We are only doing what we were told!" the other one pleaded, "Please he's my little brother."

"And this is my family, nice to meet you" Ianto said without looking up, the blade sliding higher as the man now screamed in a high pitched wail.

"I will tell you, please. Please. Stop please!" the man was sobbing now as Ianto released the smaller one and he was dragged back to be held possessively by the unmarked brother.

"Jack, I have no need to converse with these….these…tics" Ianto rose and walked out to the patio as he looked out over the water with obvious anger. The Sherriff had come straight here, had set a trail these ones had followed and the entire meeting at the office had been a fucking rouse to empty the house. Jack had been a surprise, more than they had expected for sure as he now screamed with anger into the face of one of his killers.

"Taddy?" Kara came out with Sydney in a blanket, sliding in beside him to watch the rain starting to fall, dappling the water of the bay.

"We can't ignore this, it was an act of domination. We were supposed to return to a dishevelled house, probably dead dog and a warning to leave sleeping dogs" Ianto said sadly, "Only they didn't know that a Tiger beats a dog every time."

"So what now?"

"They just issued a challenge, what do you think we should be love?"

"Send it back in pieces" she replied as she raised her face to cleanse with the rain now falling steadily on them.

Ianto did like the rain.


	55. message sent?

Ianto dragged the body over to the canoe, securing it with rope as the larger brother limped over to accept the paddle.

"I expect my canoe back" Jack said sternly, "No doubt those who come to parlay can bring it with them. Remind them to be nice or your brother might get a nasty flesh eating infection or something. Shame if he loses a foot…or a leg….or a head."

They watched the canoe disappear into the rising mist and Ianto turned to watch his daughter calmly hose the blood from the garden where her father had died, her face serene even though her knuckles were a little white.

"I give it an hour" Jack said as he turned to follow Ianto's gaze, "Go comfort her. I have to get somethings ready."

"Yes Cariad."

Ianto went over and drew Kara against him, whispering how proud he was of her moxie and she turned in his arms to take a kiss then nuzzled her face into his neck as she took comfort from him, like she did as a small child in a thunder storm.

"Yan"

Ianto straightened up and moved to his agreed spot as Kara slid into the house and up to the rafters of the top level where her puppy was already in a basket asleep. She looked down on the front yard from her perch above the large windows and saw the canoe being pulled forward against the pier by an angry looking man, five others in the following skiff to gingerly follow their leader, the brother came last with open terror. He saw the other one sitting on the ground and ran to him, dragging him towards the skiff as Ianto watched expressionlessly.

As they got to the skiff Steve rose from the depths and seized the injured bother, pulling him down as the other one screamed and struggled to retrieve him. Steve released him now it had been made apparent these men were surrounded.

Ianto stood glaring at the approaching Lycans as Jack sat in the deck chair nearest, "Wanna sit? I would invite you in but the place is a little…well….messy since your dogs there turned everything over looking for gods knows what."

"We wanted to know who you were, why you are here" one of them spoke.

"We found the child, we called it in. We were sorry for your loss and we were respectful of the poor pup. You have no right to blame us for the actions of whoever killed him" Jack frowned and they seemed to stall out.

"Killed?"

"What, you do know he was murdered right?" Jack asked, "He has a K9 torn out so roughly it ripped his lip, classic trophy. You need to look for a rival pack and you will find the ones who did it. I would assume it was a rite of passage?"

They stared at him silently, then an explosion had everyone swinging to look to the left as Ianto sighed. A landmine had gone off and he swung back to yell at them. "Tell them all to stop before they set off more landmines!"

A bark rang out and they all watched Ianto as he stared at Jack then huffed, "I vote they are on their own."

"Babe, don't be mean" Jack smiled, "They clearly didn't realise they were entering a Tiger's Den."

"They are werewolves, I would prefer Weevils" Ianto muttered, "I am sick of aliens, really I am. Why can't we escape them? I mean….shit…. I am about to turn fifty five and still there is not escape. When do I get to retire?"

"That's Torchwood" Jack shrugged "No escape."

"Torchwood" one repeated.

"Hi, Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood" Jack said happily, "My beloved partner here is Ianto Jones. I am sure you know about us. You know … The Ghosts, then came the 546 then Miracle Day?"

They blinked.

"Maybe you've heard of my friend the Doctor? You know? The one who killed off some of you once upon a time? Yeah?" Jack folded his arms, "Maybe the Incoming Storm would like to know there is a pack of you here terrorising a few harmless people and aliens?"

They blinked again.

"You know, it isn't nice to stare" Ianto rose and addressed the one who stood back by the boat silently, stalking towards him "Why are you terrorising us? We've done nothing wrong. Would you have preferred my daughter left the boy to rot?"

"He was my son" the man snarled.

"And you honour your son by endangering my daughter?" Ianto frowned, "Why is my child's life worth less?"

"There is no child here"

"Kara"

She swung out the window and landed on the lawn, her crouch startling. She rose to walk over and stand between the two men who were now obviously related to her, her head raised defiantly.

"This is our daughter" Jack said calmly, "This is our home. You are not welcome, you have insulted us for the first and last time. Next time one of you thinks they can come into our home and attack us we will feed them to the gators. Understand?"

"That was not intended, they were supposed to be more…polite" the leader said as he motioned for them to leave, "We must talk bout this and make a decision."

"Well don't expect me to hold my breath" Jack shot back as they pushed away from the pier, "I will just resurrect angrier."

.

.

.

.

To my friend reading this on the train, I am curious what time of day and where my friends check up on my updates. I am currently in bed. It was my birthday yesterday and I am lazily posting before I get up to start work. I always post early in the morning in my neck of the woods...or should I say between the sea and the river mouth. I live on an esplanade that was once the beach, my house build on a sanddune that looks out over the receeded sea at the mouth of the Grey River. The fishing boats go around the tip head to come in and I am often woken in the early morn by the deep thrum of a diesel motor coming up the side of my house.


	56. lock it down?

"Hastie"

The sheriff had the good graces to look apologetic as Ianto stepped to one side and allowed him into the house, the man pausing to wipe his feet politely.

"Hastie" Jack said, echoing Ianto, "What the hell. Were you in on this or what?"

"What?"

Ianto lifted his phone to show the picture he had taken of the one on the phone at his desk in the sheriff's office, "This one was on the phone with the werewolf pack up the river, telling them of our movements so they could come on here and attack Jack, ransack the place and then try to kill me and Kara. Did you know you had a bloody Werewolf on staff? This one here, this one walking between doorways is human but what we call a handler. Like … a servant to them. In your uniform, pissing on us from a great height."

Haste took the phone and studied the screen with horror and Jack nodded, believing that the man as confused. Honestly, unable to understand.

"Hastie. The little boy killed was of the werewolf pack that lives here. We assume there is a rival pack and one or two of their teenagers came and took the boy, portably wanted to scare him. Tore out the tooth as a trophy and he either accidentally died or they just went overboard with the attack. The pack he belongs to seemed to want to blame us. I told you we didn't want to be involved, but here we are. The house ransacked. I was killed, Ianto and Kara endangered. They tell us they didn't mean for it to go so far but it has. We are pissed. Don't want to know. You will probably have a few more bodies turn up as they don't know to feed them to the gators like we do. It could be an all out war. A dog fight, literally and we do not want a bar of it. So long as you have staff loyal to them, you will have little to no control."

"Don't you worry, I am beyond pissed my own damned self" Hastie finally spoke, "What the fuck. I will sort this shit!"

"Good, now enough talk about unsavoury things" Ianto said as he placed a plate of sandwiches don, Hastie cooing with delight as he snatched one up for a taste. "I understand the vandalism continues in the town."

"Yeah, more bloody tourists" Hastie sighed sadly, "This place is becoming more popular with the rest in the country, this president is scaring people and they are looking for somewhere to hide. Unfortunately they are not scared enough to be polite to those they think might hide them."

"We chose this pace for it's stillness, silence and solitude. The jet boats are getting closer, the yelling and yahooing around the campfires last longer, not just at special holidays. Gods, we've only been here six months and we are seeing the changes, for the townsfolk it must be heart rendering."

"Maybe we can do something about it, have this place closed down a bit or something" Jack suddenly said "I am owed the world right? Saved it enough times to at least get this place re-categorised as a historic place or something? You got an endangered plant or something?"

"Like that movie Tremors when they got the valley closed off by the federal government? Would the town accept that though? No more newbies unless agreed to by the entire town? The whole place declared government protected?" Kara asked leaning forward "Get a government bubble over the place?"

"Could we?" Ianto asked, "Can we really get the place shut down? Fuck Tremors you make it sound like that other one…The Village where they all pretended to be back in the bloody middle ages or something."

"No, we can say this is a classified area due to a secret facility. We will need to register our house as Torchwood Outpost or something and this place immediately has all the power and resources of Torchwood" Jack was gaining momentum as he jiggled in his chair, "Shit, we are even introduce gates, patrols and shit. Really scare the fuck out of would-be newcomers. What do you think?"

"You are suggesting probably the largest gated community ever" Ianto huffed, "They might be resistant to it."

"Then don't tell them. Don't suggest to or have a natter. Do it. Simply do it and it's done. Some will complain, some will applaud and then next fishing contest they will bitch about cheating like always." Hastie shrugged.

"It will blow over?" Ianto frowned.

"Things always do son" Hastie smiled softly, "That's how it works. Once they realise it doesn't impact heir routine and stops the noise, littering and chaos things will all settle down. Those who make the noise will be those not welcome in the first place. This community had been here for hundreds of years, this is our home. If there is a way to protect it I sat go for it Jack"

Kara nodded her agreement as she glanced over at her Tad, "The swap would be excellent terrain for some manoeuvres with the men, the bay perfect for some waterborne exercises too. What if we classify this a training ground? Then the locals can't' complain about revenue being down, those we bring in will shop locally as well as there would be government payouts for the use of the town right? Each local gets a monthly stipend or something for letting us rampage about?"

Jack slapped the table with glee "Done!"


	57. who is the little pig now?

They moved like liquid in the shadows of the swamp, Kara watching her Dad who took point. Tad was somewhere to her right so he was between her and the embankment and she felt a strange comfort in the obvious protection even if she knew she should be insulted that they thought she could not defend herself.

She hadn't come across wares before, she knew she should defer and to see them in black fatigues moving with the lithe grace of a warrior was actually really thrilling. She now saw their strength, the unspoken bond borne of combat, each man not even glancing at the other as they moved in perfect unison. She knew her team was seeing it as well, Rex to her left to complete the triad of immortals.

Ianto was the first to signal movement ahead and they all froze, knowing they were downwind and the wares had no idea who was about to knock on their door. Jack simply straightened his shoulders, took a deep breath and holstered the Webley as he strode out of the black into daylight at the back of the commune and he stalked towards a group of men locked in an argument, the one who was from the Sherriff's office tuning to squeak with shock.

"Hey there, I'm Jack."

The place erupted as some ran, some barked warning and one decided to attack.

Ianto's stunner boomed with the noise only a pulse riffle can make and the man crumbled to the grass with a grunt as Ianto emerged swinging from the hip with open malice.

"Hey, we wanna try his again?" Jack asked calmly, "Hi. I'm Jack. This is Ianto."

"I am Troy" a man stepped forward from the group, his bulk massive and Jack knew that if not the Alpha, he was definitely one of the lieutenants.

"Hi Troy. You wanna take me to your leader?" Jack quipped, "And everyone needs to step back a bit, the team are incoming."

As Jack spoke the unit emerged from the black, Kara leading her men out into the light to surround the scene in a semicircle. One took a knee with a tablet to coordinate as several threw sensors at roofs and out buildings to allow Mainframe to scan the area and collate a map.

"What the hell is this?" Troy snarled.

"A friendly return of greeting" Ianto spoke for the first time and several heads whipped around at the melodic tone, "You lot came knocking at our door. We've come knocking at yours. As to whether we ransack and rampage as your lot did remains to be seen. We did not come here to harm as you did, we came for Parlay."

An elderly gentleman approached from the side of a building, his eyes set firmly on Ianto, "I am Meryl. I am a pack elder. You can speak to me."

"Where is the Alpha?" Jack demanded.

"Here" a voice snarled and Ianto swing to find a man standing close enough to touch him. Ianto grinned as he lowered the rifle and thrust out his hand in what was the universal hello. The man looked at the hand and reached out to take it.

Ianto's smile faded as the man tried to crush his hand and he felt a rush of anger as he returned the force and the man's face registered surprise as he felt his hand becoming crushed in a vice.

"Brandon!" Meryl warned softly as he felt something in the air that made his hackles rise.

"Do you want me to break a few bones or are you going to be more polite?" Ianto hissed, then released the hand knowing Brandon was resisting the urge to cradle it against his chest.

"For anyone wondering, we are the ones who found your boy and called it in. We are the ones some of your people came and attacked. We do not want a war, as you can see it would be short-lived and you are rare enough as it is without us coming in and cleansing the place." Jack said with joviality, "We came to see if you can just leave us the hell alone and stop with the bullshit."

"Come, we will break bread" Meryl said as his eyes slid to his son who had now given in and was tenderly massaging his hand. His eyes moved back to the young man stalking over to move with the one in charge, the pretty girl signalling the others like she was in charge moving quickly to fall behind them.

For comfort?

Meryl canted his head as he saw a pack.

Then he saw the insignias on the uniforms and sighed. Torchwood. When the hell did they get here?

As they moved to the meeting house Meryl watched more sensors flick into trees, onto roofs and some even cheekily placed lawn darts calmly as they strode along to help map the place. Meryl knew Troy and Brandon had not yet noticed what he already knew.

This was not a friendly hello.

This was a takeover and they were already caged.

Meryl could only hope to negotiate now.


	58. storms

They settled into the expensive sofas that sat in a circle, the Alpha choosing to sit opposite Jack for an eyeballing contest that he had no idea he couldn't win. Meryl sat and watched Ianto chose a seat by the handsome captain with the girl once again sliding in between them as a pup would between her parentals.

Parentals.

Meryl watched the younger man's hand brush her knee as he settled and saw the likeness there, scenting the air to find a swirling mix of aromas. One was mouth-watering and he swallowed thickly as he focused on the Captain still staring down the Alpha with a calm smile.

"Brandon, stand down" Meryl warned, "He will not falter. This man is no human."

"Well, technically I am human, just not an earthling" Jack replied with a gentle tone, "Although I have been on this planet roughly three hundred years of my life so…that's what…. Twenty ….no….fifteen?"

"Twelve percent of your life so far if we are being linear with your age, well if you are being truthful about that and I doubt it" Ianto replied softly, "But technically you are only about 24 hours old since you were killed by one of these curs in the garden."

"Semantics" Jack sighed, "Ianto is always one for the semantics of a mater, I prefer to gloss over the boring bits. So. I am ….ah….I think I was 35 when I died for real and then became immortal so can we just say I am 35 again? So much easier."

"Yes but that will make me eternally….what… 26?" Ianto frowned, "That's a random thing for you to be so old yet almost the same age. You've been here so much longer than I, poor Rex here even less. But, Rex how old were you when you died the first time?"

Rex blinked, "Ah…36."

"Ha!" Jack crowed, "Rex is the old man!"

"Even though in immortality he is the youngest. Now that really isn't fair is it" Ianto sighed as Rex grinned at him and rolled his eyes, "But technically, Rex is not immortal. Just….sort of…enhanced."

The whole time they were talking the girl was looking at those in the circle, her blue eyes piercing as she swept the group and they settled on Meryl. He looked into the pools of intelligence and felt his bowels loosen with fear as golden swirls seemed to draw him in. Then she blinked and he was released to look away with open shock.

"Look, what my fathers are trying to say is that we have not poked you with a dull stick so we are confused as to why you poked at us with a sharp blade" Kara broke into the conversation, "if you wanted our attention you have it and not in a polite way. My unit could decimate this area with rapid pulse fire, I could call down Dragon's Breath to cleanse this entire township and surrounding areas as far back from the water as the mountain range that created this bowl."

There was a silence as Ianto shifted to cross his legs and look up at the ceiling as he lamented his daughter's ability to channel her father, Jack's grin of pride unmistakable as he mirrored his child.

"So, what do you say we stop the bullshit and you tell me why you are blaming us for the death of your pup when clearly it was a rival pack?" Kara demanded.

"I was unaware of the youngsters and their sudden interest in your….family" Meryl replied, "This was not sanctioned by the council."

"Your Alpha knew though" Kara pointed at Brandon, "His Troy Toy is obviously ready to do whatever his lover wants!"

Now there was a new silence, one that had even the creaking of the building stilled with shock, Kara frowning as she looked between the two men flanking her, "Did I call that wrong?"

"No baby. I think they are just so careful that the masking scents are similar so it was never picked before" Jack chortled, "I am also sure they can't breed like me and Taddy can so the hopes of a next generation of Alphas has just crashed and burned."

"But he can still breed, why not take a wife as well?" she frowned, "Surely this place is not that backward that a polygamist relationship is not that unheard of? I thought these backwater places were known for inbreeding and spreading the seed within the family?"

Ianto snorted and shifted, letting his feet both sit primly together now, "I apologise for my daughter, she has her father's mouth I am afraid as much as my deductive reasoning. She is correct though, multi-couplings would encourage more pups as you seem to have so few. A lot of women, few men. Why not see if you can crossbreed also? I mean, there are the werebears in the next county. I know they are mixable, yes Cariad?"

"Yes, werebears and werewolves can breed love, ah… Dire Wolves I think they are called. Huge wolves with the strength of a bear in my time. Fucking awesome. Even in human form they are like giants. I dated one for a few rells but my gods, such an appetite."

Ianto hummed softly as the pack shifted with confusion and one female glanced over at Meryl with open hope in her face.

He had a feeling the Werebears were not as unknown to this pack as first thought.


	59. closng ranks

They went home and Ianto found himself cleaning with a furious frenzy that had Jack pushing their daughter out onto the patio with a beer each. They sat watching the sunset light up the sky as Ianto muttered behind them.

Toshiko was more than sorry for being blindsided yet again and had decided to run her own diagnostics as well as demand….er…. request more tech. Ianto was not angry with her, secretly touched that she had started to call herself Toshiko and had agreed to pilfer … ah …. Request …. whatever she needed. She was only failing due to a lack of coverage. She needed more.

"Cariad? Gonna head into town" Ianto called about an hour later and Jack grunted as he waved a hand in the direction of his mate without a second thought, Ianto moving quickly for the Jeep. He hesitated and changed tack, taking the seldom used Austin Martin sitting in the garage instead, knowing it was an unmarked vehicle.

He drove with a usual care into the village, then beyond it to the town limit, only changing down once he got to the outskirts where the black closes over everything and he coasted down a dirt road where Rex was waiting patiently with his ankles crossed.

Anwen was there as well, pulling a bag from the back seat, "I'm coming with. Furlough sucks at the parental place."

Ianto shrugged as he helped Rex fill the back of the vehicle and then he headed home again with the makings of a new security grid. Anwen was leaning back over the seats sorting through boxes and he cursed as he grabbed for her pants belt, yanking her into her seat as he rounded a corner to find a truck hurtling towards them. Anwen yelped as she struggled into the seatbelt, Ianto swinging around the truck with ease and he cursed again as he recognised the emblem on the door of the truck from the commune.

He pulled into a siding as his heart pounded, checking she was OK and then he looked back to see if the truck had turned. He was unsure if they had met by chance or this was a tail that didn't realise how fast the Austin Martin moved.

"Shit, that was awesome!" Anwen gushed, her teeth flashing in the moonlight as she laughed and Ianto glanced back again before taking off without the headlights on. He drove as carefully as always but slightly slower to compensate and Anwen glanced over at him with interest.

"Have you just memorised stuff or can you see?" she finally asked.

"Mainframe is linked in via camera, see the GPS?" Ianto pointed to the dash at what looked like a standard GPS was actually showing the road ahead like it as daylight and she grinned as she declared it cool.

Ianto arrived home and he set Anwen to work, Kara coming out to find her friend laden down with tech wandering off into the dark with night vision goggles on and a grin to match.

"Oi!"

Kara took off after her and giggling was soon echoing around the house as the girls sassed the AI who was clearly keeping up with them. Ianto knew the new security grid would leave the other one for dead…including any unwanted guests and he went in to find Jack sitting in the chair on the patio watching the moon dance on the water with the puppy in his lap.

"Whatcha dong?" Jack asked lazily.

"Met Rex, I had a shopping list from the facility that he filled and now the girls are laying some fresh security for me" Ianto said as he sat and Jack sat up to look back with interest.

"Girls?"

"Annie came back" Ianto said and Jack grinned happily as he knew that would herald blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

Long after the girls were in bed having a slumber party Jack was considering Ianto's disquiet, also the truck he had mentioned meeting on the road. Jack called up the video footage of the truck and spent a while examining the vehicle and the slanted view of the driver, not surprised to see Troy's tattooed arm through the glass.

Hmmmm.

Jack wondered if this as a continuing feud or just a matter of wrong place, wrong time.

Either way this was getting too personal and if Jack knew anything in his long life about feuds it was the simple fact that one side has to be dominant and stomp on the other or it will never end.

Ianto liked it here, Jack liked it here.

Kara Girl liked it here.

This was their home too and if you want to get technical about this then this place was his. He saved this planet's arse enough times to have some form of ownership right?

No. This was not going to sit well for much longer and if they really wanted to call him out then he would be happy to respond with the vicious nature the Doctor hated in him so much.

After all.

He was happy to own that too.


	60. Ianto's anger cuts deep

Jack headed out the next morning after the blueberry pancakes, kissing Ianto and roaring off as Ianto did the dishes and then turned to the girls, "Right. Let's go to the store and get some marshmallows, maybe we can get a nice fire sorted tonight down by the water?"

They drove in, Kara behind the wheel of her Jeep while Ianto sat in the back and enjoyed some low flight as she showed how much like Jack her driving was. It was a good thing Ianto had no fear of dying.

They entered the store and were soon talking happily with the locals who were wanting gossip about the body so Kara told them how upset she was and how horrible it had all been. She soon had a seat, arms hugging as the old women clucked sadly and they became more concerned with her than a story. Anwen was able to collect the things they needed for s'mores and such.

Once they had paid they began to leave and Ianto stopped, the paintwork on the jeep had deep gorges in it. Slut and Bitch were carved into it and Killer seemed to have been the most time consuming one of all across the hood.

"Well, ain't that pretty" Kara said sarcastically, "Might need to get that buffed."

"Get in" Ianto snarled as he walked around to the driver's side and Kara's grin slid.

"Tad?"

"Now!"

Both girls clambered into the back, sitting meekly as Ianto fired it up and took off like a bat out of hell. He headed straight for the commune and as they came to the entrance he snarled, stomping his foot down and slamming through the security gates as a wolf yelped with shock.

Ianto came to a skidding halt as he drifted into the car park and was exiting the vehicle with such a fluid grace that Anwen's mouth was open.

"Shut it, that's my Taddy" Kara hissed as she clambered out with the ungainly clumsiness of her father to run after her Tad.

Ianto slammed into the meeting house, Jack rising with shock to watch Ianto stalk towards those seated and he had time it register his mate's anger before the blade was sinking into the calf muscle of the were.

Troy screamed with pain as he tried to escape but Ianto was now kneeling on the leg as he snarled into the man's face, "I know it wasn't you this time but I know it was one of your dogs that did that to my girl's Jeep. Either you come out and buff out those words with your fucking tongue or I get to carve my name in your bones."

"Ianto" Jack warned unsteadily as he heard the raw madness, glancing as his daughter for explanation.

"While we were in the store someone scratched up the jeep calling me a slut, a bitch and a killer" she shrugged, "I mean, it's only the last one that's true right? I mean. I do kill people."

"Don't' we all love" Jack sighed as he watched Troy writhe, "Ianto. Please release him. I was trying to sort a truce."

"I thought we had but clearly the elders here cannot control their younglings. Maybe I need to cut the balls off a few of them so the testosterone level lowers." Ianto huffed, finally releasing the blade and Troy howled as he slapped his hand over the wound, Ianto sneered, "Don't' be a baby. It missed the artery ya little bitch."

"Taddy!" Kara gasped "Potty mouth!"

"Yeah, yeah" Ianto stepped back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as if bile had spewed from it and he turned to face her, "Sorry darling. I raised you better. I need to control myself. Gods, I wanna skin them alive."

"Been awhile since I've skinned someone alive" Jack said softly as he enjoyed the confused glances. 'Look, this is what I mean. If things don't simmer down there will be bloodshed and our only weakness is our girl. Attack her and you unleash hell. Literally. Kara wasn't kidding the other day about wiping you all out, we could. Call hell down and simply burn your bloodline from the earth. I like this planet, call it my planet these days, I've worked hard to save her and keep her pretty but a small blight like this can really turn into a cancer."

"And cancer is cut out" Ianto snarled, thrumming with anger as he watched two wolves slide along the wall, "You! You smell of the stench around the Jeep. You little redheaded arsehole. Give me the blade you used."

"NOW!"

Everyone jumped and the boy was foolish enough to remove a blade from his boot that still had the cherry red paint on it from her hood as he sneered and waved it at Ianto.

"Baby, do not kill them" Jack said calmly, "We are going to put a line under this and if they come near us again we will place their hides on the railing of the patio for everyone to see."

"And I will use this blade to skin you" Ianto slapped the boy's hand quicker than a rattle snake then held up the boy's blade, waving it in his face, "Understand?"

"Yes sir."

Meryl watched Jack usher his man from the room and then watched the girl, her slow blink as she looked hard at the boy making him uneasy. She looked like she was memorising his face.

Like taking a picture with her mind.

Somehow he knew that if she found him in the woods he would never be found.


	61. visiting and peace talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [](https://postimages.org/)

Things seemed to settle down and a new calm descended over the water, those seeking to speak sending message via Steve who came with that uncomfortable look of one caught between a rock and a hard place.

Ianto went inside knowing his anger would be too evident and he went up so he could settle behind the desk to let Toshiko get a good look at them as Jack stood waiting on the pier. As the skiff came to a halt he accepted the rope and looked at Meryl as Brandon helped the old man onto the wood and Jack also watched an old woman hold her hand out imperiously for help. He didn't hesitate, scooping her up and depositing her on the wood as he smiled affectionately, "Well now, if I knew a pretty lady was coming I would have worn a clean shirt."

"Silly boy, I am old enough to be your grandmother" she chortled.

"Actually, I am old enough to either be your great, great …ah…well, an ancient ancestor or if we want to be truthful I am not even born for several millennia. Where I come from in the future we revere our elders but I don't know if they would welcome little ancient me" Jack replied calmly, "Come on, I hope you coming in will calm the savage beast hissing up in the attic like a bloody Vampyre waiting to swoop down and rip some throats out."

Meryl looked at the Alpha with a frown and Jack smiled wider, "Yeah, he would probably be first, Ianto does like to start at the top."

"Dad?" Kara stood with a pulse rifle loosely on her hip watching and he waved like it was nothing as Anwen strode past them to look down at the two still in the skiff. It was a clear challenge and both men sat meekly as she adjusted her own rifle.

"Ianto! Did you arm the children again?" Jack called gleefully, a loud thud as Ianto leapt from the top floor to the ground bypassing the stairs, crouching in front of the wares with open malice, "Isn't he handsome? Babe, come on. Stop that. They are the wares, you are supposed to be Welsh."

"I may have been born Welsh but I have evolved Cariad" Ianto replied as he straightened up and shot his cuffs.

"We have come to offer peace" Meryl said and then yelped as the old woman shoved him aside and walked over to stare at Ianto with open interest.

"I didn't get a good look at you, you seem to blend in all the time" she scolded, "Come show yourself!"

Ianto stepped forward and allowed her to lean in, bowing slightly so she could look into his eyes. She frowned, "They say you are immortal."

"Jack and I are, my daughter is not" Ianto said as he straightened up again, "We are unique."

"Yes, come help me inside. My bones ache" she held out an arm and Ianto gently helped her up the steps and settled her on the sofa then sat. She asked for the story of his kind and Ianto snorted, then explained about COE.

"But does that not mean each resurrection would have you with child again?" she asked, Ianto smiling as she showed a grasp of the matter.

"I did not fully die then, I do not think I really died until Kara's birth. On the day of the alien fart I went into a … sort of … stasis? She kept me alive as my death would have killed her too. When she was removed from me the extra spark or strength was gone" Ianto shrugged, "I believe that was my first true death. I always come back with this scar on my cheek, had that day been my true first death the scar would always be fresh again."

"That makes sense, the body is an amazing thing and a child can produce interesting chemicals" she leaned back, "so. You don't think she has this ability too?"

"During Miracle Day I was injured and bled. She should have died from the car accident but was unscathed. No. She might have been enhanced by me or somehow able to hone my powers but she is mortal. This is why I am beyond angry that she has been endangered by your younglings. If she is harmed we will kill you all. Jack and I will get up and keep coming no matter how many times you put us down. Jack has been blown to pieces and managed to resurrect, I do not think there is a way to stop us." Ianto warned and she nodded.

"A Wendigo." She said and Ianto shook his head.

"I am Welsh so I would rather be a dragon" he told her and she cackled softly as she decided that she liked him.

"I have decided" she rose and Ianto politely did also, offering an arm for stability that made her smile softly, "You are a good man, good men. The younglings will be taken in hand. Any and I mean any further transgressions will be in direct violation of my decree that you be off limits."

"Most kind" Ianto smiled softly, "But I was kinda getting used to the idea of a wolf hide on my front porch."

She laughed all the way to the skiff as the men walked behind them silently.

The matriarch had spoken.

Nothing left to argue.


	62. Big Friendly incoming

Ianto was doing his morning yoga on the pier and a soft ping alerted him to company, the tone one of gentle warning so he finished his routine and turned slowly to face the thump on the end of the pier.

It was huge.

"Hello there, you look like you must be sweltering under all that fur, come onto my porch under cover and I will get us some iced tea" Ianto said gently, pointing in the direction of the house, "Let's sit to talk to I don't get a crick in me neck."

The being swung to follow, his long arms almost sweeping his kneecaps which were about Ianto's hip height. Although he had always wondered if the rumours were true, to be in the company of a Big Foot is a truly bowel clenching thing.

Soon they were seated, the large two person couch accommodating the large furry man who seemed pleased with the large glass.

"I was always a coffee drinker but then I had to give up coffee for some months. I was not sure what the fuss was about iced tea but decided to give it a whirl. Love it now, my husband is happy with anything sugar based" Ianto leaned back and watched a huge hand reach out to gently pluck one of Jack's mega cookies from the plate.

"I am ... a name like Clyde in your tongue." A deep gravelly voice that was strangely melodic.

"Hello Clyde, I am Ianto. Some call me Yan as it is easier on the tongue"

Clyde considered with his actions infinitely refined and dainty as he nibbled the cookie, "I wanted to look at you. You interest me. The dogs show fear."

"My mate and I, and our daughter Kara work for Torchwood. An elite alien organisation created to portect this planet and those friendlies that live here. The local wares had agreed to live alongside us but there is a new pack trying to hone in on the action. A youngling has already been killed." Ianto knew there was a reason for this visit and took a stab at it, the sage nod telling him he had picked the reason.

"The new ones are trying to take some of my space. I have this side of the water, the dogs that one. We leave each other alone. The new ones want this side. Maybe that side too. One of my children was almost taken, is too scared to forage now"

"Children?" Ianto asked, "Yes. They have no morals, these interlopers. How large is your family unit?"

"Eight."

"Good number" Ianto drummed his fingers on the table, "Look Clyde, if we can work out a system of communication here, like….you know what a flare is? If you see a flare go up one night, the next day you alls stay in the den? Put aside some food for that day? I think it is time to have a bit of a clean out. I don't want the newbies here either and my mate and daughter are currently in the city at the base trying to work out a team to sweep the hills and cleanse. You belong here and we don't want to scare your little ones. Either that or you all come here and shelter in my home or you hunker down in yours. One day, it will be scary and loud, we will fire on those who resist and we will kill those who try to challenge. Hopefully though, at the end of it we will have this entire region locked down and any future visitors have to come through us"

"I like that. They will not stay in the den as they like the air, we will come here. We will look for the light in the sky, then come. You will accommodate us?" Clyde asked with interest.

Ianto made an executive decision "See the clearing there behind the house? We will set up a large tent and put some toys and things in it for the kids. Others might want to come shelter too, all will be welcome. Food and refreshments will be provided. Come and be safe. When it is over we will all know one another more and not feel fear in scenting someone in the trees."

"Yes. Scent is important to us. You smell clean. Your mate, his smell is…dangerous."

"He is" Ianto nodded, "And our daughter?"

"Excitable."

Ianto roared with mirth as he slapped at the Big Foot, agreeing that she was definitely an excitable wee thing and the rolling boom of a laugh as Clyde joined in had Sydney tottering out to look at them then yawn and flop in the patio.

"That's Sydney, Kara's pet" Ianto explained as he watched the creature go gushy with long fingers splaying over the little dog to pet with infinite care. "He likes you."

"Precious"

"Much is on this world, this planet is so young and lush. Why we need to protect our piece" Jack said in the doorway, his Webley loosely at his side, "Hello there."

"Clyde knows where the rogue wolf pack is hiding. They have tried to get one of his little ones" Ianto said and he watched Jack's face change from concern to anger.

"Did they now, well I will put my foot up their arse on their way out the door then shall I love?"

"Settled?"

"Yeah, a town meeting to let the locals know so they don't panic when I douse the place in red caps and we are good to go Taddy" Kara slipped in and past the creature to lean over the pet the sleeping dog, "Hello darling, mama's home. Wow, Steve got a crocodile as big as his boat. He let me pet it before he let it go."

"He likes you."

"He's nice" she shrugged, finally turning to face Clyde "Hi. Did Tad say you know where the arseholes are? Good. I have a map, wanna show me?"

Ianto went to get more food.


	63. getting to know you

The town meeting was in full swing with Ianto trying to get some order. Everyone was talking at once as the screen showed a werewolf in full flight, all wanting to complain, tell their sightings and generally argue if it was all real.

Meryl helped by walking down the aisle in Wolf Mode then transforming politely behind a table so his bits didn't scare the locals. The two younger wolves were a male and female, Ianto could tell they were a mated pair from their mixing scent and he idly wondered when he had started smelling people.

_Gods, getting as bad as Jack._

"We are Werewolves" Meryl said calmly, "We have lived here or near four hundred years. Up in the bayou. A new pack is trying to take this place, have killed one of our young and maybe will harm you too. We cannot protect this patch of paradise alone."

"Agreed" Clyde rumbled as he ducked to enter the hall, Ianto swinging to glare at his daughter and her persuasive tongue. "They are many and they kill all they find. Deer, rabbit, a human couple camping. I have their things."

Clyde dumped a back pack with smears of blood on it and the place went insane as Jack tried to control things. Kara placed her feet and gave a loud whistle then roared "For fucksake! Shut up and sit down!"

Reluctantly they sat.

"Torchwood. You all remember the ghosts. 456? Miracle Day?" she demanded as she looked around the room, "My parents were part of the organisation that saved us each and every time. Including the hundreds of other interactions with other life we know nothing about. This planet is called Sol3 and is lush. Many alien races want it, none can have it. The Doctor protects as best he can, we do the rest. Not all aliens are bad, although my Dad can be a little naughty some times."

Jack grinned as the place went deathly quiet and she swung to look back at him, "As you can see, he is human. Like all of us. He is from a planet called Boeshane, populated by humans from this planet. So, his ancestors are earthlings. Got it? He has seen things, done things…lived for hundreds of years with enhanced DNA, worked for an Agency that dealt with indiscretions in the universe. Came here, met my Taddy and made me. I do not consider myself human or an alien. I am Kara. This is my home. All I need to know. I want to lock this place down, cleanse and protect. I want the madness happening out there to stay out there. I need permission to do this, I will not own you or your land. I will simply be a huge scary bodyguard with big motherfucking guns."

Steve stood from the back of the hall, "She is good with a gun."

"Thank you Steve, most kind" she grinned, "I'm not too bad with a knife either but my Tad here is deadly. I propose a lock-out. Over the next few days choppers will bring huge walls to surround the outlying mountain range. I will lock down a large area, from the water back to the other side of the mountains. Nice area. We need that. One we have the place locked up me and my parentals will take an elite team and sweep, find and either categorise those who belong here as friendlies or remove those who are not. When done this place will be under the protection of Torchwood. I know…I know…some businesses might think they will suffer"

The voices of the locals were starting to rise with horror at the thought of lost revenue and Ianto stood to pull the meeting back, "Enough! Kara is not done. The teams will use your facilities. Government funding for all of you. Teams of twenty at a time will wander about on a daily basis, during the cleansing there will be three teams. All need supplies, all will want to stay in nice beds and all will definitely fall in love with the locally made knifes. Look at this as an opportunity to let go of some of the work needed to survive. Once this place is under the prevue of Torchwood you will all receive a stipend as well as the business of our people. In fact, some of you might find more work than you can handle. Steve, your boats will be a boon as it means we do not have to import any, also our men will have days off where they will be eager to drink and be merry. Take bush walks and go to the movie theatre. We are proposing a new future, it will be a future for all of us."

"I want one of those" Clyde pointed to a horse tied outside, viable though the open doors, "A good pet for my children. Do they eat much?"

Daisy was the one to move towards him cautiously, "They eat grass mostly. Herbivores."

"We are too, no meat" he answered and Ianto relaxed as more moved closer to examine the Big Foot with awe.

Kara set up the huge map of the area and soon flags were on it to show areas of habitation.

Now they were cooking.


	64. Chapter 64

I apologise to anyone who took offence by the last chapter and will take a little break from this story for a while as I try to reconfigure some chapters.

I had no idea people would compare this to an ethnic cleansing or Hitler.

I am confused.

Sorry if I have offended you.

* * *

So, OK. I guess the fact my depression is in full force at the moment, add a heatwave that makes it impossible to sleep (as well as my 13 year old dog who is my only real friend sometimes is ill with the heat and her mum and grandmother both died from heart faliure during heatwaves) and nobody remembered except my Facebook friends that it was my BDay last week, I am a bit touchy right now. Even my immediate family didn't give a flying fart. I might wirte some funny stuff but please remember the funniest people are often those who are the saddest inside.

Lets just move on yeah? I will re-word some stuff.

* * *

64

The deep thud of the heli-drones filled the entire town, going into your very bone marrow as Kara's men sat in the diner remotely placing the huge concrete barriers and shutting down the area the government had decreed Torchwood Holding.

As agreed, there would be a gap here and there until the search and move was complete so those on the wrong side had time to relocate themselves before the shit-storm descends and Kara walked amongst the tables as her men ate, talked and worked. Several locals had entered to stare at the handsome young team, the spare tables occupied by those wanting to watch and learn, the huge screen set on the wall showing the work of each drone in a multi-split screen formation.

"G4, you are too angled, I need you to tighten up at the port bow." Kara demanded and on screen a huge piece of concrete slowly adjusted itself before it started to lower against another one, the sound of concrete against concrete as it shuddered down filling the café. "Well done. One more piece and then you can do a circuit of the place for me."

"Sir, yes sir" came Anwen's excited answer, her drone skimming the trees to collect another large piece as Gwen sat back watching her daughter with open pride. She had hoped to see Jack and Ianto but understood they had other things to do and she would see them soon enough, Rex and Rhys already at the house.

Rhys was cooking outside the tent, respecting those who didn't like meat so the smell was not too intense. Rex was inside the tent with a group of ….er…..lizard people? He thought he had seen everything but now had to admit that World War II really did know a thing or two about aliens as a lizard-like child offered him a toy. He smiled as he accepted it and watched the child drop to all fours before scuttling off, rubbing at his face with amusement.

Ianto was up in the loft with mainframe humming, his eyes scanning the many screens as he oversaw his daughter's work as well as watching the new security cameras as Mainframe calibrated them.

"Jack? The camera over in grid k17 is kicking, I think it's been damaged in the landing" Ianto said softly and Jack barked happily in reply as the dirt bike he was on changed course, the four grunts with him whooping as they caught air and raced towards the camera to either replace or repair.

"Ianto?"

Ianto looked up and found someone in the doorway with a look of unease, "Hastie. Come in, want to see the full effect?"

The sheriff was still smarting over the entire werewolf incident and wary around the man who he knew could punish him for the actions of his employees. He moved into the room and looked at the bank of screens along the wall, whistling as he watched the action unfolding.

"Seems there is a family of Kervotts living here we didn't know about. Team Bravo have explained the situation to them and issued some supplies, contact details and such so when the dust clears they can make contact. You will probably never see them, they live off rain water. Glad we know they are there now, if we face a harsh summer we can organise a water drop in their area to help them." Ianto pointed to the screen where a still image of a small purple squirrel with rabbit-like ears looked up at a solider with fear. If not for the fact it was almost to the soldier's waist he might have thought someone had spray painted a red squirrel.

"Hastie once the teams are done they will leave, then it will be one or two teams at a time. Your men need to learn to liaise. I know you've had a clean out, good for you. Maybe if one or two of your people wants to come run with a team now and then, get a feel for the work? See how we do things? Might make relations better?"

"I like that" he nodded with relief, "I have some youngsters aching to take part, didn't want them in the way."

"Send them to Kara, she will work out who is useful and who is a dipstick pretty quick. This is her game now, we are just overseers" Jack's voice came over the open coms and Hastie spun to watch the bikes approaching a camera, Jack's grin wide as he skidded to a halt.

"Cariad, you stop that or I will make you clean it with a toothbrush!" Ianto scolded, "The mud gets everywhere"

"Aw come on love, I am having so much….ah….where is Mathew?" Jack turned to address his grunts and found a gap, the others shrugging, then turning back.

"There sir, silly prick came off again. I can't believe he said he could ride" a blonde woman with a southern drawl said, Jack shading his eyes to follow her pointing finger.

"Oh yeah, maybe he can clean the bikes then?"

Ianto shook his head as Jack grinned some more.

Gods, he was having fun.


	65. boxing things up

65

Everyone ate, even Ianto sitting and accepting a plate from Rhys to pick at as the place hummed with excitement, activity and friendship. They now had an active grid in place, those living off the grid were now sort of…well…on the Torchwood Grid if ya like. There were four more alien families not only surprised to find Torchwood in their woods but relieved to hear the new pack were going to be given marching orders.

Jack knew they had already noticed the activity and their little patch in a deep valley was shut out. It was only a matter of time before they tried to push back and he had them so well covered that he knew when they flushed their loos. Kara's team were almost painful in their desire to engage and he hoped that when the pack came for Parlay they would be polite. If not Ianto might wind up with that fur rug he was wanting.

"Dad?"

Jack turned to find Kara in the doorway of the loft, her beautiful face glowing as she moved into his arms and he held her with a joy and pride that almost choked him, "You OK princess?"

"Yeah, Tad OK? He's been intense and he hardly ate anything" she mumbled into his chest. Jack hummed and rubbed her back, her smell a heady mix of the two men as he kissed her forehead.

"I think he's nervous about all the people around Mainframe. She's staying silent but he worries about her a lot. She's our Toshiko." Jack said after a while, "He is also proud of you and watching everyone like a hawk so they don't show you up by going against orders. Again, a rug may result."

"They will try something" she agreed as she leaned into the hug more, "We will be ready and I think I am excited about the chance to set my team into motion. All the drills and simulations. It was good of our pack to let a few of the young ones come play. Getting a couple of play-bites really let the team feel their strength."

"That was you Tad's idea" Jack said with pride, "They needed to see the height and strength of these creatures. They are not like a wolf, they are like a damned bear when fully grown."

"Why Werebears match so well" she surmised.

"Ever seen a hybrid? Powerful and damned scary. Anger issues though, not advised you argue with one when drinking." Jack scowled and she giggled as she kissed the dimple in his chin.

"I love you Daddy" she whispered before slipping away, leaving him feeling almost bereft but the next body to slide into his arms kissed him with more fervour.

"Hey babe" Jack whispered affectionately as he reached up to stroke Ianto's hair revelling in the soft waves his fingers could glide through.

"Don't start the hair thing again or I will cut it" Ianto mock scolded and Jack laughed as he squeezed him.

"Awww, come on. I wanna see a hippy Ianto just once. Come on, grow it out, let me braid it. I can find some ribbons and…OOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFF" the elbow to his sternum hurt as did the hand grabbing at his crotch but the sugar was the kiss, deep and powerful as Ianto owned him body and soul.

Behave or you will not get a spanking later" Ianto kissed, now biting his earlobe so hard Jack squirmed.

Shit.

Ianto stalked off and Jack took several minutes to get a hold of himself….if ya know what I mean….that had caused a major problem and he still had to go talk to the group. Once he had managed to relieve himself of the major tenting he wandered down and spoke with each team as they headed out again, new directions and some swapped around so they were sure to get a feel for the different terrains.

Kara was sitting astride her dirt bike as Ianto approached and she smiled as he leaned over the handlebars and kissed her nose like he used to do when she was a child, it struck her then that she would always be his little girl and no matter what he would always be ready to run holding her hand.

A lot of power in that knowledge.

"Are you OK Taddy?"

"Yeah, just too many people touching my things and breathing in my space" he pouted theatrically making her laugh as she now saw the pretend grumpy man he was when playing with her even when tiny had always been a parody of her father. Even then he had tried to include him in her life somehow. Coming to America, the piano lessons, the guns, the training hadn't been to protect her as much as help her see the potential in her. Her father in herself.

As she watched him wander across the grass she suddenly realised he had sacrificed everything for her never thinking he would actually find himself back in his lover's arms.

It gave her immense comfort to know that even if inadvertently she had forced that issue.

Taddy was happy.


	66. Be vewy vewy qwiet...we hunting wabbits ... KARA!

The first one was caught with too much ease for Ianto's liking as he paced back and forth in the tent. He didn't smell like Were and they soon realised he was not. He was something else.

They had the man tied to a chair and he seemed the calmest of the entire room, Jack looking to Ianto as Kara stood studying the silent man. "You don't seem to realise the shit you are in."

His smile was disarming as he replied, "No, it's the level you are sinking into you don't understand little girl."

She frowned and turned to face her parentals, "What was that? Dad? You've used that language before, what is it?"

The man's smile faded as he realised the blow to his head had addled him enough to speak in his native tongue and now Jack's face was mere inches from his as he replied in Galactic Standard, "What the fuck are you doing here and now then?"

Ianto had stopped pacing and was now staring intently at the two men, "Kara, retreat."

"Tad?"

"NOW!"

She slid back behind him, her hand sliding to the small of his back in an effort to soothe, he seemed to shimmer with the heat of rage she could detect and she knew whatever was happening, it was bad. Really bad. "Taddy?"

"Answer me!" Jack shifted to Time Flow, a code language the agency had created for agents in a time of war and the man's eyes widened with recognition before he could turn his head to hide it. Jack leaned back and frowned. His next question was in Sol3 English "What are you doing here on a protected planet?"

The man looked at Jack, then over at Ianto and Kara before answering, "We were sent to observe, to report back on the viability of this area. There were not supposed to be anyone … combative here."

"Combative" Kara snarled, swinging around Ianto as he grabbed for her "You killed a child. A little boy and you wonder why we are…combative?"

"That was a mistake!" he said sullenly, "We were trying to categorise the flora and fauna of the planet and wanted to understand this sub-race."

"Sub-race" Kara screamed, one of the weres standing nearby growling softly in agreement to Kara's outrage at the slur.

"We didn't know they were so…resilient. He was so much stronger than a human child, we only wanted to know his limits" the man now saw the raw anger as three weres shifted into their true forms, their limits tested as Jack waved distractedly at them to stay back.

"So you tortured him until he died?" Jack was calm, Mister Iceman. "Did it help? Does it make things easier now we all want to skin you alive? Really? Tell me, when did the Agency sanction this?"

Silence.

Jack sighed as he leaned back, "What would you know. Lackey. Don't' even have a VM. You are just a grunt."

"I know they will scour this place to find me, reduce it all to ash if they can't" he shot back with triumph, "This planet might be protected but we can simply choose when and where we take what we want. You know this, you were one of us once. You were an agent before you…you…what. Burned out? Went rogue? Or were you simply drummed out for being a piss poor agent?"

He might have chosen to speak in Galactic Standard for the last part but Ianto knew exactly what he was saying from Jack's expression and the blade slicing into his thigh with enough force to penetrate the chair gave the man a moment of pause before he screamed with horror.

"Jack is ex-agency. I am not. I am a horse of an entirely different colour and believe you me, this is going to hurt you more than this hurts me" Ianto sing-songed as he twisted the blade, making the man's scream hoarse and high pitched. Ianto leaned in close to the man's ear "Are you all getting this back in your safe facility? Come for me, I dare you. Come for my mate. This is our planet and we will not bow to you."

Ianto rose to his full height bringing the blade back with him with such a smooth grace it was as if pulling the knife from a slab of butter and Jack turned to the monitor nearby to see if Mainframe had the coordinates the man's internal coms were sending to.

A ping and then the map shifted to show an old wooden shack in the woods beyond the wall.

"Underground facility" Jack muttered with annoyance. "Fuck."

"Well, how the hell do we get in here!" Ianto demanded, "Tosh? Can you penetrate?"

NO

"Shit" Jack repeated looking down at the man who was convulsing with pain as he bled out, "Babe. You were off a little, looks like you got an artery."

"No" Ianto said angelically as he wiped the blade with a white handkerchief, "I was aiming for it."

The man's cries of pain were heard at the facility and they watched as several personnel exited the cottage and ran towards a nearby wood shed, then bikes erupted from the swinging doors.

"Here we go" Kara called as she ran towards her own bike, "Come on... to me. Time to engage!"

Ianto swung to call out to her but she was already gone, Jack face palming as he saw his own youthful madness.

Ianto swung to glare at him.

"Really? Plan B?"

Jack shrugged, "She called it love."


	67. snatch

Kara skimmed over the terrain as she led her team towards the gap in the wall nearest the facility and she pulled to a halt and ditched the bike as she swung back to give hand signals to her men, fanning them out amongst the trees.

Soon the sound of incoming had them all ready to pounce and she watched with a motherly love as her men took them down one by one. She turned to Anwen, "They grow up so fast"

Anwen snorted with mirth as she adjusted her stunner side arm and moved in to engage. "Ugly bastards, not a patch on our Weres. I'm amazed they have any teeth at all. "

Back at the base Ianto watched as the drone passed overhead, Kara clearly identifiable in the green beret she wore for her father, the other red hats moving like a swarm of angry fire ants, then Jack made a soft noise of alarm as several men in plain black clothing suddenly appeared amongst them.

"Jack?" Ianto spluttered with alarm as Jack raced for a bike, followed by his team from the placements. Ianto turned to watch him leave and knew.

He just knew.

He felt the anger growing as he strode to the chopper sitting silently on the lawn, firing it up with the ease of someone who had spent time in the cockpit of one and as it majestically rose into the sky its pilot watched with his mouth open, his skill not matching the graceful movements on display.

Ianto didn't care about the chopper so he brought it down as close as he could, not caring that he was killing the bird as it slammed into trees and the ground.

As well as himself.

He died.

He roared to life and dragged himself from the wreckage as Jack had taught him a thing or two about screaming it out, then running for the action and he threw himself at the nearest man who was struggling with Anwen, her grin of glee as she clicked her stunner over to kill force and engaging making her look like Gwen for a moment and Ianto blinked it away.

Ianto fell away and rose to look for his daughter, somehow knowing before he even glanced about that she was already gone, Jack had told him a VM could carry more than one and he turned his attention to the nearest Agent that wore one, his blade extending as he advanced and the woman looked up with shock as Ianto seized her arm, her wrist. His hand covering the VM so she could not use it to follow her partner to wherever they had taken Kara.

Jack arrived to find several people struggling and a woman screaming as Ianto knelt on her chest calmly cutting her sleve off….no….

Jack couldn't breathe.

He knelt and seized her arm to steady his mate's movement, then he motioned to Anwen, "The cannon, get me the pulse canon from my bike."

Anwen fell a few times as she raced for it returning to hand it to her Captain then she watched with horror as he rose and aimed it at the woman's upper arm, severing it just above the elbow. The Pulse rifle severed and quarterized, the woman writhing with pain as she watched Ianto rise to hand the arm to Jack.

Jack looked at Ianto and nodded, glad his mate understood the VM only worked to the woman's DNA code, they needed the arm. Ianto then sighed and looked back at the woman then frowned, kneeling and employing the blade one more time as she now screamed anew.

He rose with her finger, then used it to key in the VM.

"It's a working model" Jack panted, "It will do. Give me the finger love, then get her some medical atten…"

The foot that stomped the woman was huge and hairy as the Big Foot ground the body into the dirt.

Ianto grimaced, "Ouch?"

"Well. She knew the risks of wearing one of these" Jack said, then he looked Ianto up and down, "Tiger, did you just die?"

"Yeah" Ianto shrugged, "Just a little death. Can we track her?"

"Yeah, it's OK. I know where they took her its here in the memory" Jack nodded, "Come on love."

Ianto stepped into Jack's personal space and Jack threw his arm around Ianto. Kissing him as he whispered that this was going to hurt a bit.

"Doesn't matter Cariad, I was born of pain" Ianto snarled and Jack snorted as he tightened his grip and engaged the VM to follow its mate's signature traces in the ribbons of time.

He was born of pain too.

And those who had taken their child?

Would soon learn all about it.


	68. a horse of changing colour

A cement box.

Kara lies on a small bed. Not moving. Her hair in plaits as she lies looking like a little china doll. She is working hard to keep that illusion intact as she hunches inside the jumpsuit. Two voices can be heard outside the door "She hasn't moved since we brought her in."

"Has anyone talked to her?" another voice asks, this one gravelly and familiar as she turned her head slightly to hear the voice of the one who was called Burke by the woman at the snatch and grab.

"They want a psych evaluation before they interrogate." The first voice said softly, "They don't know what the hell she is as the scans are off the charts."

Kara lies on the cot. She's been cleaned up and is wearing a jump suit similar to that of a prison inmate. The metal door drags open. Burke closes the door behind him. He walks up to the bed "Hello Kara."

Kara lies motionless.

"My name is Burke. Would you like to talk to me?" His voice has been trained to engender a state of peace and security. Kara sits up and hangs her legs off the side of the cot.

"I was told by my father you would try to gain the upper hand." She said softly.

"Really. Interesting. What else did your father tell you?"

"Where am I?" she changes the subject with wide eyed confusion like she doesn't understand what is happening here.

"You're in holding."

"I see." She frowns as she looks around again, "I don't … where are my friends?"

"This must all be very strange for you. You were in the forest with your friends and then something attacked you, we scared it off but you were knocked over. Your friends managed to escape …. Ah …. from the thing but you were left behind. I want you to know no one's going to hurt you. We just want to talk to you about your father."

She seems to be staring up at the ceiling.

"Kara?" He follows her eye-line to the CCTV camera above them.

"Is that a camera?"

"Ah, yes, that's a camera. To keep a record." He smiles, "We just need to understand."

Marquim sits with the monitor, watching Kara watching him as she stares directly at the camera like she sees into his soul. He is alone in the room. No one else there. Late at night. On the screen he sees Kara in the Interrogation Room and Marquim stares at the screen, at the blank face of the young Kara. A frown crosses his face as he studies this strange young woman. Something familiar in those eyes. So blue. Piercingly so.

On the screen Burke continues to probe. "Can I get you something? What do you like? Music? Magazines? Just say. Anything at all."

Kara leans forward. Looks at Burke, who encourages her with his eyes. She whispers. "I want to speak to your Head Agent. I am Kara Harkness-Jones, Torchwood."

Marquim sits in stunned silence.

"Did you hear that?" Burke says as he looks at the camera.

Marquim pauses before he answers. "Tell her I'll be right there."

.

.

.

.

.

A white space with specialist lighting and the hum of is the DNA lab. A white coat is looking at the result of something on a computer. It has shocked and intrigued him. He calls across to another doctor. "Jim come and take a look at this kid's blood sample."

The other one walks across. He sees the sample on the screen. "Is that right? That can't be right."

"And I got a sample of her hair."

They look at the results, baffled.

"That must be contamination." Jim says with confusion.

"What contamination? What would it be?"

"Run it again."

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Kara is sitting on her cot with her back against the wall. A metal door drags open. A pair of smart female shoes enter the room, accompanied by the military boots of two guards.

"My name is Marquim. You wanted to speak to me?"

Kara turns to look.

Kara stares at her, then looks at the two guards.

"You can wait outside." The fake Marquim demands.

The guards exit and the door slams shut behind them.

In the Observation Room Marquim is looking at a small Monitor.

He wonders what she smells like as his partner's nose twitches slightly showing the scent in the room is pleasant.

"Where am I?" Kara asks.

Kara stares at False Marquim awaiting an answer.

"You're in a safe place. Let's talk about your father. You must love him very much."

Marquim watches on the screen as Kara blinks slowly but does not respond to Hellina. But then gets a call from the Laboratory. "Marquim."

"Sir we need to talk to you. We've run tests on the girl." His voice sounds urgent, concerned. But Marquim has interrupted.

"What tests?" he rises from his chair with alarm, "I gave no orders for her to be harmed."

"Do you know where your father is?" Hellina asks as Kara cants her head as if considering an answer, the screen flickering slightly with the storm raging topside.

"Standard DNA and meds." The doctor answered.

Marquim is suddenly alert. "Send the results straight to me."

"Did he tell you where he was going?" Hellina asks Kara as she leans forward "We're all worried about him. Jax might need our help, he might be hurt. Tell us love, where is Agent Thane?"

On the CCTV Kara looks at the False Marquim. She begins to cry, holds out her arms to be held. She has all she needs to know.

Hellina tentatively takes Kara in her arms. "It's OK. It's OK."

Kara coils her thin arms around the woman's neck, clinging to her like a monkey. Hellina looks up to the security camera, slightly concerned. Kara wriggles in her arms, to get a better grip...

Marquim watches this strange image of his partner hugging this young girl. Kara begins to weep more and more, burrowing her face into the woman's neck.

"You want me to give her something?" Burk asks through coms.

Kara clutching on to Hellina, nestles close, weeping.

"I think it might be necessary." Marquim watches, now concerned. Something is wrong. "Get her out of there."

Burke comes rushing down the corridor filling a syringe as he goes. He arrives at Kara's door. "Open up."

"Abort." Marquim suddenly barks as he rises again from the chair, this time with a realisation of horror as the little girl in her partner's arms suddenly seems larger than her "I repeat. Abort."

Kara hugs, weeping, on to Hellina. Burke hears the instruction to abort but too late...as suddenly and with total efficiency Kara snaps the Time Agent's neck.


	69. down to business

Marquim stares in shock as his partner slumps dead to the floor. Then he watches as Kara grabs the first Guard's handgun from his holster and fires two rounds into Burke's skull.

And two more into the first Guard's chest.

Marquim immediately presses the Alarm Bell. "Jee-sus wept!"

On another screen Marquim watches as the other Guard tries to drag the metal door shut. He hits a fleshy door jam - Burke.

Kara is upon him.

Two shots.

Marquim watches Kara aim straight at camera. Kara's fierce eyes looking at him, Marquim can't help but pull away from the screen.

Kara fires and the screen goes blank.

Marquim watches as, one after another, his camera's go down. But still there's no sign of Kara.

"She's a child for Christsake!" Marquim screams, "How the hell is she doing this?"

Alarms are sounding and red lights flashing in the corridor.

.

.

.

.

. **.**

Kara walks fast along the corridor. She ducks into a door to avoid two Centre Guards running past, dives down another corridor and walks through a pair of double doors with warning signs on them.

PROTECTED ENVIRONMENT - CLASSIFIED

She finds herself in the specialist Military DNA Laboratory.

The doctors stare at her. One of them reaches for an alarm but Kara is too fast. She flies across the desk and smashing a glass test tube she cuts the doctor's neck, then turns and does the same to the other one.

Kara looks round, trying to find a way out. Then she sees something on the desk. It is a file with a photo of herself clipped to it and a collection of papers - she scans it and reads in several places the letters DNA. But before she has time to read properly, she hears a female voice from outside the lab. "This is Sanders. I'm checking Zone eleven."

The woman radios off, then enters. She senses something. The DNA laboratory suddenly seems empty. The buzz of the lab's lighting and the whir of the air-pressurizes are the only sounds as the Sanders looks around. Then she hears a rustling from behind her and tenses up. She turns around but Kara has vanished into thin air, there is silence.

Kara, runs along the corridor. She has in her hands the DNA results which she scrunches up and jams into a pocket of a satchel she grabbed off the back of a chair, filling it with the other things she is collecting.

Kara eyes the vent above her. She peers around a corner - her only other route of escape and sees personnel reach the intersection close to her and spread out, all going in different directions but none coming towards her.

The last pair of personnel start heading towards her. She looks up at the duct again and a length of ducting along the wall, about waist height. She puts a foot on a rail, halls herself up towards the vent. She fiddles with the vent, eventually opening it as the personnel are almost upon her.

She crawls through the narrow air-conditioning duct. She stops, alert to the sounds beneath her. Through small perforations in a vent she sees more personnel running down the corridor.

The duct bends to a vertical angle. She begins to crawl up a steep gradient towards a crack of light.

Marquim sits in silence. His companion looks at him nervously.

"You think she's out?"

"She can't get out." Marquim picks up an internal telephone. "Who's on the perimeter? Detail every unit available."

Kara is sweating, exhausted, blinking in the darkness, trying to make out what the light source is.

The gradient has got steeper and she starts to slide backwards on the smooth metal surface. She digs her fingers into the rivets joining the plates of stainless steel, trying to get a purchase.

She summons the last of her strength and reaches a crest. She rests a moment, then hauls herself over the crest and immediately starts sliding... she tumbles, gathering pace, falling down a long chute into the blackness. She has no idea where she is or what's happening, but she's covering a lot of ground.

She hits the bottom with a crunch and cries out.

When she opens her eyes she sees more tunnel - and at the end light. She crawls quickly towards it and stops at a kind of manhole cover with a sprung lever - she wrenches the lever and pushes against it. After a little effort the cover gives way and light floods in, blinding her.

Kara recovers and tentatively pokes her head out into the bright light of day. She emerges from a hole in the ground in the middle of a sandblasted desert and slams the cover closed. Total silence now, except for the whistle of the wind on sand. It takes her eyes a moment to adjust to the blinding light.

Blearily she looks out across this alien environment.

After a moment her ears prick up. She turns just in time to see a Military Jeep over a sand dune in the distance behind her. The jeep is crawling straight towards her, ominously shimmering in the desert heat.

She quickly ducks back down into her rabbit hole and waits.


	70. pride

She wonders if it is a mirage, her Tad striding across the sand like some movie star with a slash of blood across his ceek, his flat jacket on the back seat of the jeep so the black t-shirt hugs his young frame like a lover. Speaking of lovers, her Dad is standing on the running board of the Jeep he had just driven to this spot, his gun sweeping as Ianto walks in her direction without fear, "Kara, come on love."

Kara rose and walked towards them, her eyes scanning as she let her Tad walk past her, still moving to scan for himself as she finally reached the Jeep.

"Hey baby, you OK?" Jack asked and Kara nodded, holding out the satchel but he shook his head and raised a finger towards the sky. She nodded again to show she understood. Eyes in the sky. She flung it into the foot well of the front seat and clambered in as her Tad turned and walked back towards them. Jack said softly, "In the back, on the floor love. Tad will want to cover you."

She nodded as she slid over the seat to settle in the back, the blanket there covering her neatly. Soon they were powering along and she heard her Dad he assured her everything was fine. She felt like a child again, on a road trip with her Tad and she loved the fact she could let go of what she had just done. Tad said Dad was like that, a man of moments. Life is a series of moments.

She had done her duty, she had remembered her training and she knew she had accomplished her mission. Seek and destroy motherfucker! You hurt me, I kill you.

"We will hunker down for the night and be back on a flight tomorrow or something" Jack was saying, "we can't risk jumping after Ianto's adverse reaction to a tandem jump, the triple threat might be too much."

"Tad" she hissed, pointing at the satchel and Ianto looked at her, then pulled it between his legs to peer into it, then he snorted.

"Cariad, we will be back shortly" Ianto prodded his mate, "Kara has got us return tickets."

Jack glanced over as Ianto tipped the satchel to show a couple of VMs nestled in the paperwork and he grinned, the two fingers attached to each one along with a flap of skin showing she had listened to his late night talks about them. He then reminded himself that this was Ianto's child, that old edidic memory thing that had him reciting files without the notes in front of him in those wonderful suits and those ties that could be so….um…herhum.

Jack looked forward and guided the jeep into a siding then in behind a copse of trees where he turned and kissed Ianto hungrily, then turned to apologise to their daughter only to find her laughing softly as she slapped at him and called him a horn dog.

"Right, good girl. Now we can use these fingers and skin to recode the VMs, wipe their DNA codes and reprogram them to us" Jack explained now there was time to calmly do so.

Soon all three had their VMs strapped on and Kara started to giggle as Ianto commented about having a strap on again, the tension dissipating now they were safe. Jack pulled the satchel over and rifled through it, putting things to one side that Ianto picked up. He stared at one and handed it silently to his daughter who leaned back to examine it.

"What is it Tad? I placed the virus Tosh always has me keep on the stick around my neck" she pulled the necklace out from under her t-shirt that was actually a USB stick "I think she is having fun now she's inside."

"It shows your father's advanced DNA in your blood...also my own additions. It showed the Time Agency failed to keep their lines straight. The ribbons of time are not just a bit frayed around the edges anymore. If you hadn't placed that virus they would know where we are and come stomp on us harder than a Big Foot" Ianto said and Kara frowned.

"Do they stomp?"

"Like the Incredible Hulk!" Jack said with glee "Like SWOOOOSH!"

"Come on, we did our job. Let's go home and I hope like hell this time I don't have to hurl" Ianto muttered, "I bet she doesn't. Bet she bloody loves it."

"Right, let me show you how to set the time and place" Jack said as he leaned over and they all mimicked his motions with the new VM he had from the dead agent that was Smooshed. Ianto knew it would be pulled apart to fix the old one, the time and loving care required to restore it worth it to Jack to have the familiar leather on his wrist.

They found themselves back soon after they had left, Anwen looking at them with surprise as she oversaw the clean up and more than one Were yelped as they felt the arrival cackling in the air.

Ianto spun and threw up, Kara screamed with glee and Jack swaggered.

Of course.


	71. Settling into a new world

Kara runs through the thick woods. She is exerting herself heavily as she moves up a steep hillside. She looks behind her quickly, and continues.

A young man, and then another, running through the woods out of breath. They are dressed in filthy uniforms, and show several days growth of beard. The leader stops for a moment, and looks around. The two men separate.

Kara has come to a small ledge, over a ravine. She stops, panting, and bends over, in an attempt to catch her breath. She looks around, and looks back, her back to a steep wall, a steep drop before her.

The first young man, having come up to the spot vacated by Kara adjusts his red beret as in the background we see his darker skinned colleague has long since lost his or maybe never had one. The dark man looks down, and sees movement in the brush below him, in the ravine. He starts to descend, and then looks up.

Kara is pulling herself up the steep rock face. The young man regains the ledge and looks up.

Ianto is somewhat dressed in filthy clothing as well. He is standing on the other side of the ravine making a note in a small notebook, which he closes. Now, the two men look up the ravine at the young woman, seen disappearing over a ridge.

"...you better catch her Willem..." Ianto whispers.

The dark man looks around, and begins climbing up the rock face behind her, pulling himself up, hand over hand by the roots of trees. Several feet up, he falls on his back. He tries to work himself to his knees and winces in pain. He looks to Ianto for help.

"...your Dad's napping on the sofa, your Mom's watching Let's Make A Deal, and God is Dead. What do you expect me to do...?" Ianto's voice is gentle and you might think he is using coms but this man is a Were who can hear those vowels quite clearly even as the human counterpart can't.

"...I'm tired, Sir...Sir, there's no way..."

"There's always a way...Don't you tell me there's no way... and don't call me Sir"

A pause, as the man tries again to get to his feet. Ianto looks up at Kara on top of the ridge and gives her a "hold" gesture. She stops, at his command. Ianto nods, as if to himself, and throws a rock across the expanse striking the young man in the ribs. The man starts, his eyes grow, and he gets to his feet.

"How 'bout that? That's called 'Adrenaline'. You said you wanted in." He moves into position to throw again at the now-standing young man, and hits him, not heavily, but convincingly, several times. "This is where you get in. The mugger don't care. The shooter don't care...get up...Or I will beat you to death on this fucking hill...Now: you better catch her...before Giles does. A mere human?"

He motions with his head.

In the background the red cap is sliding around them as Kara nods, and begins running again. Ianto watched her, for a moment, breast a hill, and disappear again...

Willem groans as he looks at Ianto, empty, now, full of self-pity, as if he just realized something.

Ianto nods as if responding to his look. As if to say that's right.

There's nothing but the mission...

Willem begins to climb the rock face.

Giles has now gained ground and is close to where Kara waits in the clearing, panting from the exertion of the day's activity. Ianto is calmly jogging around the ridgeline like he is out on a morning run and she is again amazed at his stamina.

Willem has finally given in and with a soft chuff of annoyance he starts to transform and a huge black werewolf now slams through the undergrowth as Giles squeals with horror at the realisation that he is between Willem and his target.

Kara looks towards her Tad who is crouching on an outcrop of rocks looking like some freaking god. She turned towards the approaching freight train and starts to laugh as Giles comes sprinting from the trees and straight past her with soft squeaks of horror.

Willem reaches her and stops, bowing to show she has won as she forced him to lose his temper.

Kara crows.

Jack sits in the jeep back at the base of the mountain with his binoculars trained on his handsome mate as he looks out over their personal heaven.

Gods, he can't wait to get him home and naked on the bed to smell his dirty, sweaty self.

Ianto will be horrified as per usual.

The VMs on their wrists are never spoken of.

But they are constantly there scanning for any disturbance in the Time Streams.

Or as Kara calls it …. The Force.

.

.

.

So ends part 1


End file.
